Toronto.- The 25% tariffs with which the US president-elect, Donald Trump, threatens Canada would cause 65% of the country’s small businesses to increase their prices, a study warned this Wednesday.
The Federation of Canadian Independent Business (FIB) report also noted that 69% of small business owners estimate that tariffs will cause their costs to increase.
Corinne Pohlmann, vice president of FIB, stated in a statement that “a trade war (between the US and Canada) will be disastrous for both Canadian consumers and small businesses.”
Canada has warned that it will respond to possible tariffs with similar measures against American products.
Read: Foreign Ministers of Mexico and the rest of Latin America will meet to address a common position against Trump
FIB data indicates that 82% of small businesses in Canada would suffer in one way or another from Trump’s tariffs.
Business owners fear that if tariffs become reality they will cause product shortages, so they will need alternative markets or suppliers.
51% of Canadian small businesses are directly involved in importing or exporting with the US.
They propose measures to face impact
FIB proposed reducing administrative obstacles, eliminating barriers to internal trade in Canada and relaxing tax pressures on small businesses to offset the effects of possible tariffs.
Trump has suggested for months that he will apply 25% tariffs to his two USMCA trade agreement partners, Canada and Mexico.
Read: Michigan warns that Trump’s tariffs on Mexico and Canada will hurt the auto industry
Initially, the US president-elect linked the tariffs to the flow of migrants and drugs arriving in the US from these two countries, but the Canadian Government believes that Trump will apply the tariffs regardless of the actions he takes against undocumented immigrants and drug trafficking.
Trump has also expressed his willingness to annex Canada using “economic force.”
With information from EFE
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