Canadian companies have been given a reprieve from tariffs, at least for the next 30 days.
The postponement was announced Monday after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke directly with U.S. President Donald Trump.
While the delay good news for companies who operate on both sides of the border, some say they plan on pausing any internal growth until the situation is clears up.
“We continue to have to focus on the things we can control,” said Tony LaMantia, the CEO of Waterloo EDC. “Waiting is never a good plan, right? Companies that are trade exposed, i.e. that rely on the U.S. as a key export market, need to start thinking about diversifying their markets. They need to start thinking about import substitution strategies.”
Jim Estill is president of The Estill Group, a Canadian company focused on the manufacturing section.
He agrees that it’s a waiting game.
“That’s the problem we have, it’s 30 days of uncertainty and uncertainty means businesses won’t make investments.”
Many businesses have an integrated North American supply chain, meaning it’s much more difficult to figure out if something is American-made or Canadian-made. “Arctic Snowplows is a perfect example,” Estill explained. “The plows say, ‘Made in Canada,’ and we buy steel, which gets laser cut and bent and folded and welded. But there’s pistons that are made, and I think the pistons we get [are from] the United States.”
After the 30-day period is up, it’s not clear what will happen next.
“The obvious thing to do is to get some product into the country where it’s ultimately going to end up,” Estill said. “To the extent that we know we’re going to sell certain fridges in the United States, let’s fill the warehouse in the United States so that we don’t end up paying a tariff on things.”
The push to ‘Buy Canadian,’ meantime, is opening up opportunities to local entrepreneurs.
“Give me a list of products that say, ‘Made in USA’ and can we make them in Canada,” Estill said. “We’ll just supply the Canadian market.”
HEATHER SENORAN | Videographer
