Now Reading: Businesses brace for impact of Trump's tariffs on Canada – NCPR: North Country Public Radio
- 01
Businesses brace for impact of Trump's tariffs on Canada – NCPR: North Country Public Radio
Businesses brace for impact of Trump's tariffs on Canada – NCPR: North Country Public Radio
The scent of white pine sawdust, diesel fumes and cedar sap hangs in the air at a lumber yard in Rensselaer Falls, NY, fifteen miles south of the Canadian border.
Two men in their 20s, Matthew Morse and Austin Kennedy, are loading narrow white pine boards onto the forks of a small Cat loading machine and slipping thin strips of wood between the boards to create air gaps that prevent warping and mold, a process called stickering.
JP Building Supply stores and sells all types of building materials and lumber and gets “about a third” of its supply from Canada. That includes sheathing like plywood, which is threatened with a tariff that could double the import cost.
On July 20, President Donald Trump imposed 50% tariffs on many Canadian goods, from dairy and alcohol to motor vehicles to building materials like plywood, kitchen cabinets, and cement. They’ll take effect Aug. 19 unless the countries strike a deal before that date.
As he straps down a bundle of white pine with a ratchet strap, Morse said he’s “not concerned about the tariffs himself.”
“It allows for more commerce in the country and not outsourcing to other countries,” said Morse. “You know what I’m saying? It’s time to give our own companies business.”
This sentiment is one of President Donald Trump’s arguments for imposing these tariffs: that they’ll drive more local business within the U.S.
But JP Building Supply owner James Putman said that if these tariffs really do move forward, they’re “in trouble.”
“That’s going to affect us tremendously. If things bump up 50%, we have to add on 50% because we’ve got to put it onto the customer. And that’s just going to push everything else up.”
That’s despite his business growing and doing well, said Putman.
For the past year and a half, the Trump Administration has aggressively targeted Canada with tariffs, arguing that the country has treated trade with the U.S. unfairly. But the Supreme Court ruled last February that Trump didn’t have the authority to impose certain tariffs by executive order; the government has refunded around $100 billion in tariff earnings so far. Now, it’s imposing new tariffs under Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930. Trump is the first U.S. president to invoke this provision.
Across the border in Canada, Hank Vedder is retail sales manager at a lumber business in Ottawa called WoodSource that ships 60% of its product to the U.S. He said the threat of these tariffs alone is already impacting U.S. customers like home builders and contractors.
“They say, ‘Hey, if that 50% is coming in, I need to do one of two things. I’m going to either order today before the tariffs kick in, or then I’m going to wait until there’s relief in those tariffs.'”
Vedder said these tariffs are causing a domino effect—raising import costs on specific items, which then pushes companies to raise all their prices.
“So then that affects the contractor because he’s trying to get this house built on time for his customer. And then that affects the supply chain because if the contractor is not ordering the material, then the supply chain is weakened.”
Vedder said he’s lost substantial U.S. customers, and that “the tariffs are making or breaking it.” He said that if the 50% tariffs go into effect, regular consumers will pay the price.
“So when that price comes through, because it is a consumer-driven economy, it’s the consumer that pays the tariff,” said Vedder. “So, regardless of where you live in the world, you’re the one who’s going to be swallowing the tariffs. Businesses will maybe try to absorb some of it, but at the end of the day, they just can’t.”
In central New York, dairy farmer A.J. Wormuth owns Half Full Dairy and also chairs the Northeast Dairy Producers Association. He said he hopes the new 50% tariffs apply enough pressure to help both sides reach a better deal to restore the United States-Mexico-Canada-Agreement (USMCA). But he said existing tariffs—like on steel and aluminum—stacked with the uncertainty of whether these new tariffs will happen, have already “created economic pressure.”
“So there’s a lot of building going on in New York right now,” he said. “A lot of expansion related to the increased dairy processing that we have in New York. So a lot of people are building barns, a lot of people are investing in their operations. It just raises the cost on everything: cement, steel, anything you’re using in a building project; those costs have escalated exponentially.”
These new tariffs cover a slew of Canadian products, everything from chandeliers to ice skates to dairy and alcohol. Amy Magnus is the Director of Compliance and Customs Affairs at A.N. Direnger, based in St. Albans, Vermont, and helps businesses calculate tariffs when shipping across the border. She said she’s never seen anything like these tariffs before in her 40 years of experience.
“I have to prepare my customers for the worst-case scenario,” she said. “I am telling my customers, ‘Please check the lists and see if you have any products that appear on those lists.’ If you do have, let’s say, all these shipments of ice skates that you want to bring into the United States, bring them in right now!”
Magnus said she hopes both countries work out a resolution. She’s worried these new tariffs will create a colder relationship between Canada and the U.S.
“The people in the North Country area have enjoyed going back and forth to Canada. We’ve enjoyed the city life of Montreal and all that it provides in terms of theater, sporting events, or shopping, or fine dining,” said Magnus.
“And in reverse, the Canadians have come into the United States, and they’ve enjoyed our mountains or skiing or our beaches along the lake,” said Magnus. “And it’s just been a cordial and warm and friendly relationship. And I think that there’s a chill in that friendliness that we’ve all shared.”
Last year, New York State’s export market from Canada fell by $3.8 billion because of tariffs, according to the State Comptroller’s Office.
Tense international relations are also impacting tourism. In Ogdensburg, cross-border traffic dropped 23% in 2025, leading to more than half a million dollars in lost toll revenue compared to 2024.
Hank Vedder from Ottawa, Canada, said both countries need each other. “That was the whole purpose of putting the fair trade agreement in place: so that we could indeed trade products. Canada needs materials from the States, as does the States from Canada.”
While shopping at a hardware store in Ogdensburg, Ernest L. McEathron, from Gouverneur, said these tariffs are painful. Half of his family lives in Canada.
“I have a reunion coming up at the end of August,” said McEathron, “I’m not even going to the reunion because I don’t dare cross the border.”
According to CBC, Canadian officials are mapping out a trade deal to pitch to the Trump Administration early next week to try and avoid these new tariffs.
