Latest / INSIGHT TODAY / It's been 1 year since Trump's 'Liberation Day' tariffs

Transcript

It's been 1 year since Trump's 'Liberation Day' tariffs · INSIGHT TODAY

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The top administration is hitting a key milestone in their
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: push to shake up global trade. A year ago today,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Donald Trump announced his Liberation Day tariffs, some of which
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: were later overturned by the US Supreme Court, but several
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: remain in place. Steel and aluminum tariffs are still being
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: hit hardest. Canada's auto sector, softwood, lumper, copper, and furniture
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: industries are also feeling the pressure, although there are carveouts
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: under the Canada US Mexico Free Trade Agreement. All of
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: this sets the stage as Canada prepares for its upcoming
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: CUSMA review talks. My next guest is the founder and
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: CEO of border Works Logistics. It's a logistics company in
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: southern Ontario with multiple warehouses both in Canada and the US.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Deanwood joins me. Now, Dean, we have spoken before. Last
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: time you were on the show, you said that this
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: would be a three to nine month period of severe
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: pain before something was negotiated. At least that's what you hoped.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: It's now been a year. Happy anniversary is definitely not.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: I'm glad you can chuckle. It has been going on
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: a year though. How's your business holding up?
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: Well? It certainly has been painful for the year a
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: lot of our clients because we handled their distribution and
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: their products. It's still a time of uncertainty still, the
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: time that's making many many businesses very very concerned about
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: their largest trading partner in the United States and how
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: to calm that situation down so that we can get
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: back to growing our businesses. So everyone is still in
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: a very cautionary period. We were hoping that we would
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: have had a stronger relationship even through these times with
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: the US, but it's evident that we don't have that
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: right now.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I know that negotiation had your fingers crossed for
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: hasn't happened, though there are negotiations coming up. I can
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: imagine what your hopes are for those.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: But tell me, well, certainly it is a time of renewal.
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: The agreement doesn't go away for another sixteen years, but
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: it is a time in which all the countries involved,
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: the three countries involved, with a chance to evaluate what
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: their needs are. And obviously there are needs that are
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: being put on the table from the United States. I've
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: traveled to Capitol Hill, I met senators and congressmen. They're
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: very very clear that they love working with Canada. They
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: see us as a great partner, but we have some
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: issues that are on the table that they need and
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: they feel that needs to be addressed. So it is
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: our hope that we can bring those things to like
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: get a proper agreement in place with those issues that
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: are seen to be rearing its head on a regular basis,
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: and bring it back to sanility of being able to
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: do trade again without the risk of tariffs coming at us.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: Can you give me some specific or tangible example of
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: how you have been affected by what has actually been
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: kind of on again, off again tariffs really throughout the year,
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: and to that, I guess maybe explain to us. I
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: mean you have warehouses you know, on both sides of
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: the border, am I right? And so what are the
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: products and how do you adapt you just hold off
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: on sending as long as you can or explain that.
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: Well, we handle products on behalf of our clients. So
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: we have everything from sports bottles to food products to
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: manufacturing components that move across the border, the auto trade
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: business for example, as well as the consumer goods. So
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: a couple of things happened when they remove the dominimus,
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: the under eight hundred dollars low value shipments. There was
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: probably one hundred and eighty thousand jobs just in southern
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: Ontario that were directly affected by the fact that they
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: could no longer do that. Now, those goods still some
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: of those goods still cross the border and are subject
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: to tariffs, but the tariffs are in such a place
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: that some of those are no longer viable to even
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: have a business that way. So we've seen businesses shutter
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: their doors because it's not worth it. We've seen a
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: lot of businesses, ten to fifteen percent of the businesses
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: decide to pull the trigger and put inventory directly into
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: the United States, paying the duty on the cost instead
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: of what they sell it for from Canada. And this
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: has caused a reduction in resources being spent in Canada
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: and an increase of resources spent in the US. We
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: can't keep up with the demand on our US side,
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: and our Canadian side is a little bit lighter. We've
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: not expanded our staff as much. We're not contracting, but
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: we're not expanding it at this point.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: You know, you use the word to minimus, and I
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: remember when that first sort of came about. I'm going
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: to say maybe mid mid year or midway through this
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: year that we've been experiencing, and I think a lot
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: of Canadians had to kind of get their head around
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: what does this even mean? But your clients, you and
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: your employee that you know very well what that is
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: and what it has meant, and you've kind of gotten
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: into that. But in terms of your employees and the
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: fact that you haven't expanded it, and this is being
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: felt by your clients, can you talk to me maybe
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: feelings that are being shared? How are people feeling about this?
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: Well, the topic of trade has never been so much
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: of a coffee table conversation and a coffee shop conversation
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: as it has in any recent years that I can remember.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: Our very employees, people that normally didn't pay much attention
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: to that. When we do our town hall meetings, they're
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: asking the questions, is this going to be okay? Are
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: we going to have a trade agreement? What does this
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: mean for our business? If it goes away? Will we
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: stop having business? Well? Yes, business is still going to happen,
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: even though it's going to be more expensive, and you're
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: going to have some players that are going to lose
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: out in that because it's just not going to be
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: viable for them. So it is a topic that's still
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: very much a concern with folks. What we need is
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: a strong and positive relationship with our largest trading partner
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: in the United States, even though we receive sometimes antagonistic
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: comments back. We need to be Canadian. We need to
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: use what we call quiet diplomacy. Don't do it on
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: the front page, don't do it for political gains, Stay quiet,
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: stay focused, because that relationship for Canada means so much
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: to Canadians. There's so many that are tied to US
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: companies even for their paychecks. Let known the supply chain.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: One simple component in a car seat moves eight times
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: across the border before that car is built. We can't
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: afford to disengage in those kinds of relationships. It would
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: just cost too much both sides of the border.