{"id":883719,"date":"2026-09-05T01:48:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T01:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/883719\/"},"modified":"2026-09-05T01:48:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T01:48:12","slug":"u-s-businesses-think-looming-countertariffs-will-inflict-pain-but-not-misery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/883719\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. businesses think looming countertariffs will inflict pain, but not misery"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Vehicles cross the Blue Water Bridge between Sarnia, Ont., and Port Huron, Mich., on Wednesday.Carlos Osorio\/Reuters<\/p>\n

For a raft of businesses north of the U.S. border, the punishing 50-per-cent tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump represent an existential threat.<\/p>\n

For many south of the 49th parallel, the Canadian countertariffs expected to take effect next week look very different. Some expect pain but not suffering.<\/p>\n

\u201cAm I happy about what\u2019s going on? Absolutely not,\u201d said Daroll Frewing, owner of US Bowling, a family-run maker of pinsetters, bumpers and bowling lanes based in Nevada. \u201cBut is it something that I would fight for, for our company? No, it\u2019s not worth it. Because it\u2019s not that big a percentage of our business.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has frequently touted the overwhelming size advantage of the U.S. economy in its increasingly pitched trade battles with Canada. \u201cI don\u2019t think you can be in a tit-for-tat with someone who\u2019s 13 times larger than you are,\u201d Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said earlier this week. <\/p>\n

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, meanwhile, called the sky-high tariffs \u2013 on more than $27-billion of Canadian goods, which Ottawa says it will match next week \u2013 \u201cmore their emergency than ours.\u201d<\/p>\n

The dismissive response from U.S. leadership glosses over ways in which Canadian measures have caused real problems. Stripping U.S.-made alcohol from most provincial shelves has acutely stung makers of Kentucky bourbon and California wine alike. Northern U.S. towns, in particular, have seen a decline in business from the fall in cross-border travel.<\/p>\n

A high tax rate on U.S. goods, too, forms a protective economic rampart around Canadian-made alternatives.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how Canada\u2019s countertariffs could hit your wallet<\/a><\/p>\n

Still, the insouciance of some U.S. manufacturers in the face of Canada\u2019s looming action offers a striking reality check for those hoping Ottawa\u2019s measures will spark a revolt. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the country\u2019s leading industry group, has said only that it hopes negotiators return to the table, lest escalating tariffs raise costs and impede economic growth.<\/p>\n

Some manufacturers who spoke this week with The Globe and Mail had not even heard that new tariffs were coming.<\/p>\n

For bowling suppliers, \u201ctruly, Canada is not a big market to any of us,\u201d said Mr. Frewing.<\/p>\n

The lengthy list of U.S. goods soon to be subject to Canadian tariffs includes furniture and milk products, steel goods, athletic supplies, golf clubs, motorcycles, chains, flooring, billiards tables and fishing rods.<\/p>\n

They stand to strike communities across the U.S. \u2013 Dalton, Ga., the American \u201ccarpet capital of the world\u201d; Jefferson, Iowa, where American Athletic Inc. builds gymnastics equipment; and Woodland, the small city in southern Washington State that Alex Maslov calls \u201cthe Silicon Valley of fishing-rod manufacturing.\u201d <\/p>\n

For decades, Woodland has been a haven of American-made lightweight fishing-rod blanks, graphite reel seats and carbon-fibre handles. <\/p>\n

In depth: From flower farmers to cheesemakers, meet the business owners affected by the trade war<\/a><\/p>\n

The local industry was founded in the shadow of aerospace giant Boeing, whose materials expertise and supply chains \u2013 in carbon fibre, in particular \u2013 have helped to spawn a high-tech outdoors industry.<\/p>\n

Today, three-quarters of American-made fishing rods are manufactured in Woodland; the remainder in Park Falls, Wis. Foreign competition dominates the market, but domestically manufactured product still accounts for just under 10 per cent of U.S. sales. High-end goods made in Woodland are sent around the world, too.<\/p>\n

Mr. Maslov says the company manufactures fishing rods for the global market, shipping to Asia and Europe. \u201cAnd we do sell to Canada,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Still, the tariffs don\u2019t have him especially worried. Roughly 10 per cent of sales go to Canada. A 50-per-cent tariff \u201cmakes it difficult for the U.S. domestic manufacturer to compete in Canada,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo, there\u2019s definitely going to be an impact. Whether it\u2019s completely crippling, I don\u2019t believe so.\u201d<\/p>\n

He is hopeful, nonetheless. Past tariffs have been defeated by legal action. Perhaps the same will happen once again. \u201cLegal representation seems to be the way that tariffs end up being reversed in the long run. And we feel that this will end up going its way through the court system again.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the meantime, \u201cif goods are tariffed, business always finds a way to reduce tariffs, to move goods and services between geographies,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Tim Shufelt: Trump\u2019s push to isolate Canada falters as foreign investors start to buy in<\/a><\/p>\n

Those with long memories recall previous moments when tariffs have forced new ways of doing business. The fishing-rod industry in Woodland was built in part by Gary Loomis, a former U.S. Navy machinist and avid steelhead angler who began making carbon-fibre rods roughly a half-century ago.<\/p>\n

Today, Mr. Loomis remains a business partner with Mr. Maslov. Decades ago, he recalled, they turned to final assembly at a manufacturing facility in Canada to ease the burden of another round of Canadian tariffs. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s an idea that the men have already discussed reviving this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of companies will do the same thing, where they will set up kind of a midpoint assembly,\u201d Mr. Maslov said. It\u2019s simple math: $75 worth of components will incur a smaller tariff bill than a $200 finished product. <\/p>\n

Still, he worries that the sudden rush of tariffs between Canada and the U.S. will add to the burden on consumers already grappling with years of inflation. For makers of expensive fishing rods \u2013 and perhaps for others, too \u2013 it suggests a dimming of future fortunes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the tariffs do end up coming through on both sides and maintaining over the long term, it will slow the refresh cycle. Instead of buying a new fishing rod once a year, they may go to buying once every two or three years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do hope that cooler heads will prevail and our leaders will get back to the negotiating table and figure this out. Who this benefits in the end are manufacturers that are outside of the U.S. and Canada \u2013 and not domestic manufacturers.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Vehicles cross the Blue Water Bridge between Sarnia, Ont., and Port Huron, Mich.,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":883720,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,45,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-883719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883719","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=883719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/883720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=883719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=883719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=883719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}