Manitoba business owners and industry associations are bracing for a harsh economic hit with U.S. tariffs on Canadian exports set to kick in Tuesday that threaten to disrupt trade and reduce demand in industries that support thousands of jobs.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s long-threatened plan to impose the tariffs materialized on Saturday, as he said a 25 per cent tariff on virtually all Canadian goods will begin this week Tuesday, according to a fact sheet from the White House sent to CBC News.
“This is going to have a very significant impact not just on Manitoba pork farmers but on the whole province,” said Cam Dahl, general manager of the industry association Manitoba Pork.
The province exports more than $450 million worth of pork and $200 million in livestock to the U.S. every year, he said.
The 25 per cent tariff could lead to a disruption of trade with Manitoba’s largest markets for pork — coming at the expense of an industry that supports around 23,000 jobs.
For Manitoba, there are no alternative markets for the export of live animals except the U.S., Dahl said, and in the short-term there aren’t viable options that could fill in for pork exports if there is a gap in the demand from the U.S.
“We’re very export-dependent,” he said Saturday afternoon, before the U.S. had officially confirmed the tariffs.
“We’re very integrated with the United States.… Ultimately, here in Canada, if high tariffs remain in place, we are going to see a reduction in production.”
Small businesses bracing for impact
Derek Eastveld, owner of the Manitoba-based guitar amp and pedal manufacturer Revv Amplification, said about half of his business revenue stems from exports to the U.S.
If shipments are delivered without including the new 25 per cent levy, customers in the U.S. would have to pay it before getting the product, which Eastveld fears could lead to customers returning purchases.
“We lose the sale, and we lose the cost of shipping … and we also have to pay to recover it back,” he told CBC Saturday afternoon.
The small business, which operates out of Ile De Chênes, just southeast of Winnipeg, has kept prices low compared to other brands that manufacture boutique amplifiers, but the tariff will bring Revv’s prices on par with others, he said.
“It’ll hurt if they want to buy our product, and then I assume there will be a drop in demand, maybe, in the short term,” he said. “People will just decide that it’s too expensive.”
Depending on the decline in demand, job losses could be in line, he said.
With the threat of retaliatory tariffs on American goods coming to Canada, Eastveld said his business has stocked up on raw materials imported from the U.S., and in the coming months, the Revv will probably start replacing those source inputs from within Canada.
But “it’s expensive to manufacture at home,” he said. “We’re at the mercy of what both governments will do.”
“The measures that either [country] are taking immediately impact small businesses and consumers at a time inflation has been crazy.”