How Canadian companies are navigating Trump’s tariffs

{"text":[[{"start":6.48,"text":"A wave of economic patriotism has swept across Canada as it faces unprecedented hostility from the US, helping some businesses to thrive despite Donald Trump’s tariffs."}],[{"start":17.2,"text":"“Made in Canada” signs are proudly displayed in grocery stores, lists of alternatives to US products have been circulated and a domestic travel boom has helped support many small businesses."}],[{"start":28.52,"text":"But with Trump’s trade war showing no sign of lifting, and Canada’s aluminium, steel, lumber and auto sectors facing prolonged tariffs that have already forced factories to close and shed jobs, the economic outlook is uncertain. On Friday, the government announced that 42,000 jobs were lost in August."}],[{"start":46.96,"text":"Canada’s small businesses — which account for nearly half of the country’s private sector GDP, according to 2022 government data, and employ about a quarter of Canadians — are especially vulnerable to trade disruption."}],[{"start":61.92,"text":"Some 40 per cent of the country’s goods exports are generated by small and medium-sized enterprises and, while much of this remains free of levies under the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, late last month Trump announced a new 50 per cent tariff that will affect many of them."}],[{"start":75.08,"text":"One in three small or medium enterprises also buy more than half of their goods from the US, according to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, and will be hit by Ottawa’s retaliatory tariffs on US goods."}],[{"start":87.24,"text":"Here’s how five small businesses are navigating the trade war:"}],[{"start":90.76,"text":"Chapman’s ice cream"}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":92.28,"text":"Chapman’s, Canada’s largest independent ice cream manufacturer, employs 1,150 people in Markdale, Ontario, a two-hour drive north-west of Toronto, and said it saw some of its best sales figures this summer despite the latest tariffs."}],[{"start":107.48,"text":"“Every time Trump insults Canada, Canadians buy more Canadian things,” said Ashley Chapman, chief operating officer for Chapman’s ice cream. “It actually has worked out quite well for us.”"}],[{"start":118.72,"text":"The family-run business also pivoted away from sourcing ingredients in the US, and has been finding alternative suppliers since March last year, when Trump launched his first round of tariffs on Canada."}],[{"start":129.28,"text":"Chapman said the company will replace more than 70 per cent of its American ingredients and components with Canadian or non-US sources by mid-2027."}],[{"start":139.2,"text":"“If you had asked me two years ago, ‘what about sourcing your almonds from Australia?’ [instead of the US] I would have said you were insane,” he said."}],[{"start":147.32,"text":"“It’s no great surprise that Trump is pushing for more concessions, more everything. But certainly Canadians have had enough,” he said. “The buy Canadian movement is strong and getting stronger.”"}],[{"start":147.82,"text":"Maker House"}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":158.68,"text":"Ottawa-based retail and online gift store Maker House has seen success over 18 months offering 300 Canadian-made products. It also stopped sending products to the US after costs increased as a result of tariffs."}],[{"start":173.04,"text":"“We had a really good year last year and then I think this past week we’ve had a good lift for sure,” said owner Gareth Davies."}],[{"start":180.24,"text":"Davies said the most popular items were merchandise with the slogan “elbows up” — Prime Minister Mark Carney’s battle cry for resisting Trump’s hostility towards Canada."}],[{"start":189.96,"text":"“Everything in the store is made in Canada, you don’t need to worry and check the labels,” Davies said."}],[{"start":195.6,"text":"“All this is a reminder that we can do better to protect our own economy by supporting Canadians who are making things,” he said."}],[{"start":196.1,"text":"Leaning Post Wines"}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":203.24,"text":"When American alcohol was removed from the shelves of Ontario’s government-run alcohol stores in response to Trump’s March 2025 tariffs, there was a “significant boost” in demand for Ontario-made products as a result of ‘buy local’ sentiment."}],[{"start":218.92,"text":"The province’s wine producers benefited from a huge lift in sales."}],[{"start":222.64,"text":"“We saw an additional 3,000 cases of wine sold. When you only make 8,000 cases, that’s a significant increase,” said Nadia Senchuk who runs Leaning Post Wines with her husband Ilya in Niagara, near Lake Ontario."}],[{"start":235.88,"text":"“Our growth was great over the past 18 months,” she said."}],[{"start":238.84,"text":"Ontario’s nearly 200 wineries contribute more than C$5.5bn to the Canadian economy annually and employ 22,000 people, according to the Vintners Quality Alliance, a trade group. Sales of VQA wine last year were up 10 per cent year on year."}],[{"start":255.88,"text":"“The benefits of this past year have extended beyond the winery. Increased interest in Ontario wine has brought more visitors to our regions, supporting local tourism and strengthening the connection between consumers and the places where our wines are made,” said Norm Beal, chair, Ontario Craft Wineries."}],[{"start":256.38,"text":"Wuxly"}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":273.84,"text":"Ontario-based Wuxley started out producing coats for Canada’s freezing winters and now supplies defence- and aerospace-grade clothing to a number of military forces around the world."}],[{"start":284.48,"text":"The company employed 50 operating seamsters and seamstresses in 2024, and this rose to 200 in 2025. It expects to employ more than 350 by the end of this year."}],[{"start":297.08,"text":"The brand is hoping to benefit from an increase in local procurement in Canadian defence spending at the expense of US suppliers."}],[{"start":304.44,"text":"“We’ve definitely seen more interest in Canadian-made defence textiles under the Build–Partner–Buy framework set out in the defence industrial strategy,” said James Yurichuk, Wuxly’s founder and CEO."}],[{"start":316.16,"text":"Wuxly has followed Canada’s pivot away from US markets with a focus on Europe. It sent more than 250,000 Canadian-made goods to the EU last year and was “tracking to surpass this number” in 2026."}],[{"start":329.36,"text":"“Perhaps the biggest silver lining of the trade war, and of the broader cooling in relations with the US, has been the heightened interest from European Nato nations,” Yurichuk said."}],[{"start":338.92,"text":"“There’s still real work to do in supporting domestic champions but we’re heading in the right direction,” he added."}],[{"start":339.42,"text":"HockeystickMan"}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":345.32,"text":"Joey Walsh, who owns HockeyStickMan, a hockey equipment retailer, said his business relied on the US for almost half its sales."}],[{"start":354.16,"text":"Walsh runs stores in Toronto and Belleville, in Ontario’s east, and employs approximately 80 people. The company sells hockey equipment from brands including CCM, Bauer and its own line, Pro Blackout, which is mostly made in China and avoids many of Trump’s latest duties."}],[{"start":371.56,"text":"“Tariffs have affected our business significantly, but we’re doing everything we can to hold the line and not pass costs on to our customers,” he said."}],[{"start":379.52,"text":"“Tariffs are charged based on where a product is made, not who sells it, so thankfully this round of tariffs has less impact on the industry than it appears to at surface level,” he added."}],[{"start":390.32,"text":"But he admitted that managing the changing tariff levels incurred extra costs such as managing customs, logistics and paperwork, which have caused significant strain."}],[{"start":399.96,"text":"“It has gotten more expensive to operate, for us and for the industry as a whole. That pressure isn’t finished,” he said."}],[{"start":410.64,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1788767849_3829.mp3"}