{"id":715920,"date":"2026-06-05T03:43:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T03:43:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/715920\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T03:43:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T03:43:15","slug":"trade-war-taxes-are-turning-up-the-heat-on-canadian-ac-customers-ahead-of-summer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/715920\/","title":{"rendered":"Trade war taxes are turning up the heat on Canadian AC customers ahead of summer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 5 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

When your air conditioner is working, it\u2019s a lifesaver. When it\u2019s not, things can become uncomfortable in a hurry \u2014 and expensive, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This year, that bill could be even higher. And, yes, it\u2019s because of tariffs.<\/p>\n

Since steel and aluminum tariffs were put in place by the U.S., and counter ones added by Canada, the heating and cooling industry says it’s the customer that’s directly affected.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely a few hundred [dollars per unit],\u201d said Bryan Hazzard, who owns Absolute Comfort Heating and Cooling in Windsor, Ont.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe average tariff increases \u2026 somewhere between 20 and 30 per cent on our cost, our purchase price based on which manufacturer, and how they were affected by it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Furnaces, central air conditioners and standard storage water heaters are being hardest hit, according to Hazzard, because they\u2019re primarily constructed of metal.<\/p>\n

And that price jump is shocking some customers, he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe average person only buys an air conditioner 1.5 times in their life. They may not have bought an air conditioner since the 80s or 90s. They have no idea what’s happened with all the price increases, issues that happened with COVID.\u201d<\/p>\n

LISTEN | Are tariffs affecting the cost of heating and cooling supplies?:<\/p>\n

Windsor Morning8:24Are tariffs affecting the cost of heating and cooling supplies?<\/p>\n

Hazzard says at the grocery store, where people shop on a weekly basis, customers notice items going up a little bit a time. But that\u2019s not the case in the heating and cooling industry, he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had someone who replaced their furnace for the first time in their life and they’re in their upper 50s, they had absolutely no idea what it would cost. There’s just a big disconnect between that because you don’t do it regularly.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, there could be some relief on the horizon when it comes to American trade war tariffs on Canadian metal products. <\/p>\n

U.S. President Donald Trump signed a proclamation earlier this week to amend tariffs<\/a> on some aluminum, steel and copper imports. Effective June 8, tariffs on some derivative products, including types of residential heating, air conditioning and ventilation equipment, would be lowered from 25 per cent to 15 per cent.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe top of an old air conditioning condenser is shown after being removed from a residential home. (Tony Gutierrez\/The Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Martin Luymes, with the Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Institute of Canada, says heavy reliance on the U.S. to manufacture the products is the big reason why tariffs are contributing so heavily toward sticker shock for consumers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don’t manufacture much in Canada in our sector,\u201d he told CBC News.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe vast majority of residential gas furnaces and air conditioning systems is served by companies based out of the U.S., to some extent, Japan and Korea, and now increasingly in China.\u201d<\/p>\n

WATCH | In early May, Ottawa announced $1.5B to support aluminum, steel industries:\"\"<\/p>\n

Ottawa announces $1.5B to support aluminum, steel industries<\/p>\n

The federal government announced a $1.5 billion package to help industries hit hard by U.S. tariffs on steel, aluminium and copper, but the deal has other sectors looking for support.<\/p>\n

Luymes says contractors indicate their margins are pretty thin.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s not a lot of room for distributors and\/or contractors to absorb price shocks like that. So yeah, they’re typically passed on to the end user.\u201d<\/p>\n

He says roughly a year and a half ago, when prospective tariffs were first raised in the U.S., his organization urged the Canadian government not to retaliate with reciprocal tariffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are products that aren’t really discretionary. When your furnace breaks down you pretty much need to replace it in a cold climate like Canada,” he said. “And increasingly we’re finding when people have air conditioning and it breaks down, they replace it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AirAn air conditioner in Calgary is shown during an Alberta heat-wave in 2022. (Dave Gilson\/CBC)<\/p>\n

Luymes says it\u2019s not a simple as making a swap, like saying you\u2019re going to switch from bourbon to a Canadian equivalent of something like rye whiskey \u2014 which in theory would punish the American supplier.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere really isn’t often a lot of choice to that product. It ends up that the the end user often in a time of need has to pay that extra cost. By imposing tariffs we really wouldn’t be hurting the U.S. manufacturers as much as we’d be hurting Canadian consumers who don’t have a lot of alternatives to choose from.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hazzard says the best way to try and avoid your AC or furnace from failing is by taking good care of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaintenance is massive,\u201d he said, by checking your filters every few months, and by keeping your outdoor AC unit cleaned off.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo not use a power sprayer or you will be buying a new unit because it will destroy the outside.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also, \u201cset it and forget,\u201d according to Hazzard during the summertime.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPick a temperature you can live with night and day and leave it there. It is much easier for an air conditioner to maintain than to catch up.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 5 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":715921,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[45,49,48,46],"class_list":["post-715920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=715920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/715921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=715920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=715920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=715920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}