Ottawa businesses bracing for the economic impact of tariffs

The White House confirms the promised tariffs on Canadian exports to the U.S. will be implanted Saturday. CTV's Natalie van Rooy looks at the local impact.

Ottawa businesses are bracing for the economic impact of tariffs, as U.S. President Donald Trump is set to impose a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian goods on Feb. 1. Trump says there’s nothing that Canada can do to delay the measure.

The move will impact every single Canadian, as an analysis from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce says the 25 per cent tariff could shrink Canada’s GDP by 2.6 per cent and cost households an average of $1,900.

For one Ottawa-based business, that manufactures doors and frames, it will be significant.

“About two thirds of our business is exported to the United States, so it’s significant,” said Jack Shinder, Ambico Limited CEO.

The company has been in business for more than seventy years and in that time, the CEO has never had to prepare for anything like this.

“We’ve been asking government face-to-face for support, just as they did for businesses during COVID-19,” said Shinder. “We think it’s that urgent. We’ve said to government: ‘Look, we can’t sustain a 25 per cent hit to our bottom line over the long term if we all want businesses to stay in Ontario, (and) to stay in Canada.‘”

The Conference Board of Canada’s principal economist, Richard Forbes, says that no city, town or region in Canada will be spared from the impact of the tariffs.

“When inflation goes up, purchasing power goes down and it’s really going to hurt consumer wallets,” said Forbes. “That being said, relative to other cities in Canada, Ottawa should fare okay mostly because of its concentration in the service sector with nearly a quarter of jobs in this city in the public service.”

The Canadian government is planning retaliatory tariffs, starting with a small list of American made consumer products, like Florida orange juice and Kentucky bourbon. A longer list of U.S. goods may follow. The federal government says it’s also planning a potential pandemic sized stimulus package to help Canadian businesses.