Canadian businesses seek certainty in US tariff war

Deal or not Deal, what Wes Love wants is certainty.

His company in the Toronto region, Taurus Craco, imports machines abroad and distributes it in North America, mainly in the United States.

But the changing tariffs of President Donald Trump on Canadian products have left him, as many owners of independent companies, unable to plan for the future.

“What created indecision on the market is that people do not know in which direction it will happen,” Love at the BBC in June.

“And in small businesses, indecision is killer.”

The Craco Taurus was hardly affected by prices earlier this year when it was forced to pay nearly $ 35,000 CA ($ 25,500, £ 18,700) because a shipment to the United States crossed the border a few minutes after a deadline.

“It is completely punitive. From the point of view of small businesses, it is more than the cost that we spend for hydroelectricity and gas throughout the year,” he said.

Even if Trump interrupted this price a few hours later, the Taurus Craco had to pay again. To refuse would mean that no longer being authorized to transport its products to the United States, said Mr. Love.

“It’s like facing the crowd,” he said.

Canada is in a tariff war with its largest trading partner, faced with a series of samples, in particular on metals and car.

Since taking office in January, Trump has announced a series of import taxes on goods from other countries – arguing that they will stimulate American manufacturing and protect jobs.

The uncertainty that followed struck Canada’s economy and intense talks between the two countries hit a hook on Friday.

Prime Minister Mark Carney described Trump’s prices as “unfair” and said that during the April elections campaign that the “old relationship” with the United States was “finished”.

Shortly after winning this election, the Prime Minister went to Washington DC, passing a more conciliatory message to the White House to launch talks on a new trade and security agreement.

A deadline of July 16 since his agreement, he had been set up for this agreement, and President Trump said at the recent G7 summit that he was optimistic that the two countries could “work something” on trade.

But on Friday, Trump said that he reduced trade discussions on the digital services tax of Canada.

“We are putting at the end of all discussions on trade with Canada, with immediate effect,” he wrote on social networks.

Carney has threatened to impose another series of reprisals in the United States if talks do not succeed.

Mr. Love welcomes any prospect of an agreement.

“Give us a set of rules and leave them alone and operate on these rules,” he said.

“It’s like sport, right? Everyone goes on the field and you play a set of rules, but you do not change the rules in the middle of the game.”

Gaphel Kongtsa, director of international policies of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said that companies hoped for a agreement to bring stability.

So far, they have had to sail in a very fluid landscape, he said, “where apparently things increase or decrease or add without very clear indication of why”.

Canada depends extremely on trade with the United States, with 75% of its exports towards the South, according to Statistics Canada.

Its economy slowed considerably in the first quarter of 2025 following the trade war and the uncertainty that followed – increasing only 0.8% between January 1 and March 31, according to the Canadian Federation of Independent Affairs (CFIB).

It decreased by 0.1% over a month in April.

A chronology of prices shows how a whirlwind it was.

On February 1, Trump imposed a price of 25% on most Canadian imports, then suspended them for a month later. They were reintegrated when this deadline expired, to be delayed again.

Shortly after, he granted an exemption from all goods in accordance with the current North American free trade agreement, known as the USMCA.

Then in March, the United States imposed a global rate of 25% on imported steel and aluminum as well as on imported vehicles.

This month, Trump increased the price of metals to 50%.

The manufacturing sector was under the spotlight with regard to prices, but the service sector is also allocated by uncertainty, if not by direct debits.

Sam Gupta is the founder and CEO of Elevatiq, a technology and management consulting firm that operates from Buffalo, New York and Toronto.

Mr. Gupta said most people did not think of the service sector during a period of uncertainty, calling him the “unloved steps” of the economy.

“Attention goes to all manufacturing companies and companies that are directly affected by the supply chain,” he said.

However, services – which encompasses everything, from finance to tourism – constitute a huge proportion of the economy of Canada, representing the vast majority of its workforce.

Service exporters have not been as hard as manufacturing, but their prospects and their trust in the market have been at the lowest level in years, according to data from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.

And while Ottawa has implemented several measures to relieve companies with prices – including funds collected by counter -tale – the service sector has not received any compensation.

“We are not even in conversation,” said Mr. Gupta. “We don’t exist.”

He said his business is not struggling financially at the moment, but noted that requests on his business services were “down 50%”.

“Regarding our understanding, not many companies do not think of these long-term investments at the moment. It is simply not in the state of mind,” he said.

“The biggest fear that we all have right now is that I don’t know how long it will go. If it will last six months, a year, 18 months, we can always survive. But let’s say that it has been going on for two years, three years that Oh, my kindness, it will be, really, really difficult.”

This was the most difficult period for industry during its 20-year career because the sector faces a combination of challenges, he said.

Mr. Gupta recalled how easy it was to get a well -paid job at the start of his career.

“Even when I graduated, we are paid like crazy. And we were so arrogant that we don’t even take calls from recruiters,” he said.

“But now with AI, with prices, the economy, everyone, everyone I know is in difficulty,” he said.

Statistics Canada reports that 56% of all companies exporting to the United States have taken measures to mitigate the impact of prices.

More than 30% delayed investment and major expenses, while 25% looked for alternative customers outside the United States.

Canada Bank said on Wednesday that exports to the United States had dropped by more than 15% in April. Steel and aluminum exports fell by 25%and 11%, and vehicle export had dropped by 25%.

But despite everything, Mr. Love remains positive.

He said companies can meet the challenges as long as the United States does not continue to change its commercial policy.

“We are entrepreneurs. We are full of piss and vinegar, as they would say,” he said.

“And so we do everything we can to keep fighting. And I think we are going to succeed; we just need to know what the basic rules are.”