{"id":822163,"date":"2026-08-22T14:28:30","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T14:28:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/822163\/"},"modified":"2026-08-22T14:28:30","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T14:28:30","slug":"in-photos-new-wave-of-u-s-tariffs-threatens-these-canadian-companies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/822163\/","title":{"rendered":"IN PHOTOS | New wave of U.S. tariffs threatens these Canadian companies"},"content":{"rendered":"

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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

A new wave of U.S. tariffs threaten Canadian businesses if no Canada-U.S. trade deal is reached. Section 338 of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act could affect $20 billion US in imported Canadian goods, from electronics to furniture to orchids. <\/p>\n

CBC photographer Evan Mitsui visited an orchid greenhouse and furniture maker in Ontario this week to discuss their concerns. <\/p>\n

Guann Chen is a third-generation orchid farmer with a massive, brand new greenhouse complex in St. Catharines, Ont., in the heart of Niagara’s greenhouse belt. <\/p>\n

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His Orchid Greens plants are sold in grocery giants Loblaws, T&T and Metro, as well as in dozens of nurseries and flower shops across Ontario. But nearly half of what he grows is for the U.S. market. <\/p>\n

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For the co-owner, a levy on Canadian-grown plants represents an existential threat to a business built to serve American demand. Proximity to the border and the vast U.S. market is key for perishable goods like orchids, allowing the Niagara region (and the town of Leamington to the southwest) to concentrate decades of greenhouse growing expertise into an export industry worth hundreds of millions of dollars.<\/p>\n

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For Chen, the tariffs don’t make sense, even though there are other, even bigger orchid operations in California.\u00a0“Orchids take years to grow, so you can’t just, overnight, switch suppliers,” he said on Thursday. “They haven’t thought it through.”<\/p>\n

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‘It’s the uncertainty that\u2019s killing us’: furniture maker<\/p>\n

Lind Furniture has been making upholstered furniture for nearly 60 years in Woodbridge, Ont. Over the decades, its clients included Sears, Eaton\u2019s and Simpsons \u2014 some of the biggest Canadian department stores in their day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nowadays, Lind white-labels for Costco (sofas ordered through Costco.ca are made here). Despite this major partnership, as much as 40 per cent of its business is in cross-border trade with middle- and small-scale retailers across the United States.<\/p>\n

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General manager Michael Saifer, who has run the place for nearly 30 years, says even without the effects of this new wave of tariffs, damage has already been done. “It\u2019s the uncertainty that\u2019s killing us,” Saifer said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

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Orders on hold<\/p>\n

Clients in this business need supply, and even a medium-sized retail chain can’t afford to shell out $100,000 for an order that could get hung up at the border and taxed. So the orders are on hold. Saifer says he’s had to furlough staff and drop a shift.<\/p>\n

The price of components \u2014 like steel fasteners and hard woods that Saifer says are the pride of his business \u2014 have already gone up.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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(Evan Mitsui\/CBC)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":822164,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[28,101],"class_list":["post-822163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=822163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822163\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/822164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=822163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=822163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=822163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}