More tariffs, more sales: How small N.L. businesses are adapting to U.S. tariffs

More tariffs, more sales: How small N.L. businesses are adapting to U.S. tariffs

Business owners want Carney to keep fighting Trump's demands

As the United States imposes new 50 per cent tariffs against billions of dollars worth of Canadian goods, some small business owners in Newfoundland and Labrador say they’ve already adapted.

Woodworker Karen Thorpe said sales for her business, Karen’s Woodworking, actually improved since U.S. President Donald Trump launched a wide range of tariffs against Canada last year.

“Where Canadians have decided to support local and support their own within their own country, my business is actually up over the last two years,” Thorpe told CBC News, adding she no longer sells her products south of the border.

Trump's latest round of tariffs came into effect just after midnight on Saturday, after Canada and the United States failed to reach a last-minute trade deal that satisfied both countries.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has since said Canada will retaliate, matching the United States "dollar for dollar" after Labour Day.

Newfoundland and Labrador won't feel the squeeze as much as its neighbours, with only 0.4 per cent of exports expected to feel the impact.

Despite the new tariffs, Thorpe said she hopes Carney will continue to fight for a fair deal for businesses like her own.

“Nothing against, you know, [the] majority of the Americans, but for us here in Canada, we have to stand up for ourselves,” she said.

Bryan Godfrey, owner of the Caribou Beard Company, said he already stopped most sales to the U.S. and now focuses on selling to Canadians.

“I now have to email [American customers] every single time that they make an order, just to warn them that they are going to get their own tariffs that I have no control over,” he said. “It's really cut the amount of Americans buying from me.”

Godfrey said he was happy with Canada’s decision to walk away from trade talks this week.

“I don't think you're going to be able to make a good deal with the Trump administration,” he said.

“We got to stand our ground with this and hopefully it works out in the long run”

Chris Scott owns the Goulds-based cider and wine company Mauzy. Scott told CBC News the push to buy local is also helping his business.

“I mean, we certainly saw a boost in our sales from, like, a buy local perspective,” Scott told CBC News on Saturday.

Alcohol has been a central issue in the most recent trade negotiations, after Canadian provinces removed American liquor from their shelves in retaliation to Trump’s tariffs a year ago.

Provincial bans on U.S. alcohol became a powerful point of leverage for Canada throughout the trade talks. The White House called the move discriminatory and said American businesses have suffered as a result.

Earlier this week, the federal government asked provinces to consider restocking American alcohol as part of the cross-border trade negotiations.

But now that negotiations have stalled, Scott said he hopes U.S. alcohol won't find its way back on the shelves of Newfoundland and Labrador Liquor Corporation stores.

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He said most customers will still choose to buy local.

“I think most consumers are going to shop with their money and your money is a vote. So I mean, put it towards something that you believe in or want to support,” he said.

“But I hope our government just keeps it off. I don't think it should be back on anytime soon.”

More Canadian aluminum manufacturers needed

Scott said the biggest impact of the tariffs is the higher price on aluminum cans.

He said there isn’t enough manufacturing in Canada to keep up with demand, and he's now buying from China..

“Which we'll continue doing because we're, as a business, … not supporting American-made goods anyway,” he said.

U.S. liquor returning to shelves a sign of 'good faith' in trade negotiations, Wakeham says

Scott said he hopes there will be more aluminum manufacturing in Canada soon.

“Then you're getting, you know, Canadian aluminum manufactured into the cans we can use, and it's a little closer to home,” he said.

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