Ottawa business says customer cancelled a $25,000 order because of potential tariffs

Looming tariffs may be on hold, but the threat of them has already affected an Ottawa business. CTV's Peter Szperling reports.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s looming tariffs may be on hold, but the fallout of their potential has already affected a local business.

With many of their products coming from the United States, an Ottawa furniture and lighting store says it has lost a $25,000 order after a customer backed out over fears of having to pay more because of potential import tariffs.

When Jennifer Miller and Jill Bonk opened Showroom Furniture and Lighting 10 months ago, the thought of tariffs wasn’t on their radar. “Not even remotely. No. Not even close,” said Miller.

This past weekend, however, the looming threat from the U.S. caused the cancellation of a $25,000 order.

“Well, my initial reaction was, obviously, I was very upset and a little bit of anger. Just because this is so out of our control,” said Bonk.

According to the store owners, within 24 hours of the counter-tariffs being announced, a customer backed out.

“The customer was just nervous. They figured that they would be hit with tariffs when the furniture hits the border and they didn’t want to pay 25 per cent more for their pieces,” said Miller.

As most economists have pointed out, the cost of tariffs can be absorbed by business owners – the increase is then passed on to consumers. “That would, cripple us,” said Miller.

So, why not just buy Canadian and find a supplier closer to home?

“Well, if we could, we would, definitely. That would have been our first choice,” Bonk told CTV News.

• City of Ottawa looks to ‘support the purchase of local, Canadian’ goods and services

Much of what the Stittsville Main Street store sells is custom-made and, according to the owners, it’s done in the United States.

“North Carolina is the Mecca for furniture in North America. It’s like saying, well, just get your bourbon from Canada. But bourbon comes from Kentucky,” said Miller. “It’s easy to switch from Heinz to French’s, but not so easy for other industries to make a switch.”

Whether it’s ketchup or custom furniture, Jim Kilpatrick, Deloitte’s Global Supply Chain and Network Operations Leader, says customers and business have to try to adopt new strategies.

“There’s no question that these are uncertain times. And so, companies would be well advised to work through various scenarios to understand the actions that they can take.”

Miller says she’s not aware of a Canadian-made option.

“Well, not to our knowledge. But we are definitely in the market to find one,” she said.

“I’m trying to be optimistic and hope for the best. But it could really have a very serious negative impact on us,” said Bonk.