B.C. businesses bracing for 'severe consequences' of 50 per cent tariffs

Trade talks that would head off the next round of crushing 50 per cent tariffs on $28 billion in Canadian exports to the U.S. are going down to the wire, leaving a lot of British Columbia businesses fearing the worst.

“It would have severe consequences on our business,” said Blaine Maryniuk, president of West Coast Walls, a small Abbotsford manufacturer of wallpaper, stickers and decals, which ships 25 to 50 per cent of its sales to the U.S. depending on the month.

“I couldn’t afford to absorb the tariff and it’s doubtful that the customers would be happy paying that additional tariff,” Maryniuk added. “So I’m in a tough spot.”

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U.S. President Donald Trump signed the executive order threatening to impose the tariffs starting midnight, Aug. 19 on a range of goods, potentially impacting about five per cent of Canada’s trade with the U.S.

However, the schedule of targeted exports, besides home goods such as the wallpapers and wall decals that West Coast Walls sells, includes plywood and wood veneers not already dinged by U.S. softwood lumber duties. That change would hit B.C. particularly hard.

Trump cited irritants ranging from the ban on U.S. alcohol in eight provincial liquor stores in eight provinces and the “discriminatory” Canadian counter tariffs on American cars when he signed the executive orders initiating the tariffs.

The measure sparked Canada to push a renewed round of trade negotiations, including meetings between Canadian International Trade Minister Dominique LeBlanc and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.

Trump and Prime Minister Mark Carney were scheduled to talk about the matter in a last-minute call Tuesday.