For Mission businesses enduring the trade war with the United States, uncertainty is the real killer.
TD Steel general manager Bob Cowan said it’s very tough to plan for the future and “right now there is no strategy” for businesses.
“I wish I had a crystal ball,” Cowan said.
JBS Equipment employs approximately 170 people and 70 per cent of its business is exported, including to the United States.
Owner Justin Bond said business has been on edge since COVID, and the trade war has also led to tumultuous times. He said that since 2020, it gets worse every year.
“I’m a company that has170 employees, and everybody’s just sitting here … it’s like being on death row – like we’ve been told five times in the last 18 months, you’re going to get shot today. And then you don’t get shot that day,” Bond said.
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A spokesperson for Gill Timbers International, a local timber and lumber exporter, said the trade war is devastating for businesses on both sides of the border.
“Businesses can only thrive on certainties,” the spokesperson said.
Gill Timbers International estimates that about 90 per cent of its business has been lost during the “ongoing back and forth” between Canada and the United States. Before Trump was elected, the business had a presence inside the U.S. but has needed to scale back and diversify since.
“Basically, it’s a shutdown for most of our business. So we have to scale back, take hits, probably in hundreds and thousands of dollars, and now try to rebuild. So it’s like basically you get your house burned down and you’re rebuilding it. That’s how it is,” the spokesperson said.
They said whatever is going on between Trump and the Canadian government, it is businesses that will be impacted.
“The government has to realize that small and medium businesses have been ignored in receiving their response or help, and they need to do more than what they are currently,” the spokesperson said.
Lesa Lacey of Lacey Construction said uncertainty is impacting construction more than the direct impact of the tariffs.
“We’re seeing a lot of people , who may have been looking to renovate or build,putting their plans on hold since Trump was elected in November 2024. So the tariffs are part of that, but it’s more so the uncertainty around the changing market situations that’s really put a lot of people on the sidelines who may have been thinking of making changes to their home or building new homes,” Lacey said.
She added that the business is seeing significant increases to costs in general.
Pressland Printing owner Jay Matte said new counter tariffs imposed on the United States by Canada impact the screen printing shop, but not the retail store which is always focused on Canadian brands.
“If a garment is … from the USA, our counter tariffs affect that price, and when we bring these U.S.-made shirts in, we import them to Canada ourselves, and because of that, we would have to pay that extra tariff. And that cost is passed down to the customer,” Matte said.
For recent orders requesting American-made shirts, Pressland has suggested similar brands made elsewhere of the same quality and colour options .
“I can already see those customers are very happy to switch countries. A lot of the clients that we have for screen printing, in particular – and at the retail store for that matte – share the same values that we do, which is shop local, shop Canadian,” Matte said.
He said the business has been wary of using American products since it opened seven years ago.
“Since the current president’s first term, when things already got dicey, we immediately cut those orders from the U.S. out and we stopped. And in his second term, we’ve decided that we are most likely never going back to U.S. goods, even after he leaves, because I think it kind of makes us realize that we have everything that we need here,” Matte said.
For the TD Steel business, Cowan said tariffs have had a negative impact, but it’s only part of the story.
“It goes a lot deeper than tariffs. It goes into the quota system that the Canadian government implemented and it goes to the east coast vs. west coast scenarios – the west coast doesn’t get supported a lot by the east,” he said.
He said the quota system favours larger companies in Canada as opposed to smaller and medium-sized companies.
“The bigger companies in Canada, they get the permits on the non-quota stuff … then all of the smaller (distribution centres and processors) have to eat the costs of those tariffs at that point,” he said.
Meanwhile, Bond said a lot of JBS Equipment’s business is already tariffed, with retaliatory tariffs having a larger impact.
“It’s tariffs on imported goods coming to Canada that’s been more of a bother to us than tariffs going to the U.S. And it’s Canada stopping the ability to use imported steel. So they went to an allotment system, and then that turned into a bunch of political games, and only the big, massive steel service centres got the allotments,” Bond said.
Bond said JBS Equipment spends a lot of energy strategizing on the what-ifs, and it’s hard to celebrate any wins.
“Because you don’t even know if it’s a long-term win or if it’s just a blip in the road,” Bond said.
Mission-Matsqui-Abbotsford MP Brad Vis, who also serves as the Conservative shadow minister for small business, said businesses that utilize aluminum and wood products have been especially hard-hit.
In conversations with businesses in the region, Vis said he’s heard the instability is destructive.
“It is hurting their business case, and it’s hard for them to navigate these uncertain times … our prime minister needs to be doing everything in his power to bring the structural changes to Canada’s economy so we pivot accordingly. We can’t rely on the United States like we did before, and we need to finally diversify. We’ve known we needed to diversify for a long time,” he said.
Vis was critical of the Liberal government for a lack of progress in addressing internal trade barriers and regulatory reform. However, Vis also emphasized “we need to stand up for Canada”
“We really need to get serious about making those key changes in our economy, because we cannot rely on the United States, especially during this time when Donald Trump is disrupting our economic relationship so much,” Vis said.
In a statement on Aug. 21 after the trade negotiations were suspended, Prime Minister Mark Carney said the government will introduce additional measures to support workers and businesses across the country.
“These actions complement Canada’s core economic strategy. From day one, we have been focused on building our strength at home and diversifying our partnerships abroad,” Carney’s statement reads.
He said the government is advancing almost $500 billion in major infrastructure projects and unlocking new export markets.
Mission Regional Chamber of Commerce CEO Miriam Bozman said no one wanted to see more tariffs imposed, and the Chamber is aware of the impact it will have on local businesses.
“Mission’s economy is very closely tied to cross-border trade through forestry and wood products, manufacturing, logistics, construction, agriculture, and the many small businesses that both rely on and support these sectors. Increased costs, supply chain disruptions, and market uncertainty significantly affect business planning and growth across our community,” Bozman said.
Bozman said the Mission Chamber will continue working with provincial and national networks to ensure governments understand the impacts and “provide meaningful support in a timely manner.”
“Mission businesses have consistently shown resilience and adaptability, and with the right policy environment, they will continue to do so,” Bozman said.
The Chamber launched a tariff survey for local businesses to share their story online.
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