‘A good sign,’ but still a long road ahead for Alberta businesses impacted by tariffs

Some Alberta businesses are optimistic after U.S. Congress voted to get rid of tariffs against Canada. But they'll continue to focus on other markets, too.

Some Alberta businesses are optimistic there could be a break in the Trump tariff fight, but they are continuing to focus on other markets as well.

The majority of the U.S. House of Representatives—including six Republicans—has voted against tariffs on Canada.

The founder of Alberta health and beauty business Ellie Bianca is refreshed by the symbolic move from American lawmakers.

“There’s a little bit of that comfort, but on the other hand, I just can’t trust it,” said Evelyne Nyairo.

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Her Canadian face and body products are hit with steep tariffs in the United States.

“(U.S. customers) ordered online; they were willing to pay the price, but when the products arrived, it was like three times the price they paid. It’s been really, really tough because we’ve lost about 30 per cent of our American clients,” she said.

“We’ve never seen a hearing like that, where a cabinet-level member shows such disdain not only for the opposing party but also for members of their own party,” said Eric Ham, CTV News U.S. political analyst.

The president lashed out on social media, calling Canada “among the worst in the world to deal with” and urging support for his tariffs.

A Canadian group in Washington for the vote has been working to convince Americans of the advantages of removing barriers.

“Energy is so intertwined within Canada and the United States,” said Gurpreet Lail, president of Enserva, which advocates for Canadian oil and gas supply and manufacturing companies.

Lail was in D.C. this week with many energy producers, including representatives from Liberty, Capstone, Halliburton and SLB, which all have offices in Calgary.

Many, including Alberta’s premier, applaud the vote to end tariffs, but it doesn’t change plans to secure other markets.

“This is a good sign … but this isn’t pushing activity further, and it’s not going to increase activity anytime soon,” said Lail.

Ellie Bianca is exploring Asian and African markets.

“We didn’t push it as quickly as we could have done, and then of course the risk of going into a country where you don’t understand the culture (or) the language, but now it’s like, ‘We have to figure out how we work through it,’” said Nyairo.

Nyairo is also pushing Canada to provide aid and incentives to create more raw materials at home.

“We have canola. We have flax that is grown. There’s a lot of material here that we don’t do the extraction (on); we just sell it out,” she said.

The six Republican defections aren’t enough to overcome a veto from Trump, so it’s unlikely to become a policy shift.

A two-thirds majority would be needed to override Trump’s expected veto, but experts think the symbolic vote is still positive for Canada.

“It just highlights to the president and to the U.S. administration that Canada has allies here, and there’s only so far that you can push Canada around before stakeholders kick up a fuss,” said William Pellerin, a trade expert with McMillan LLP.