Business owners across the province are recoiling as President Donald Trump’s 25 per cent tariffs officially take effect, as fears for what the move means for those with a large American clientele sets in.
The 25-person team at Santevia Water Systems manufactures mineralized home water filters at its facility in Delta.
“We’re a family-owned business. My mom and my dad started the business in 2008,” said CEO Matt Gohl.
Santevia generated $12,000,000 in sales last year, 30 per cent of which came from U.S. buyers.
“Customers in America love our products. We have over 10,000 American customers. Our prices are going to have to increase to those individuals,” said Gohl.
While hopeful Americans will keep buying the specialized filters even with the added cost of the tariffs, Gohl says there is a lot of uncertainty.
“Are the tariffs going to be here in one month? Will they be here in one year? Obviously in Canada we have a bit of a shifting landscape politically,” he said.
“When there are elections, maybe in the spring, what will happen? What will be the strategy of any government that does come in?”
AI Industries in Surrey employs more than 100 people, and three quarters of its fabricated steel products are sold to customers in the U.S.
“We’ve been on the phone with them all morning, and they’re just in disbelief, they can’t believe it’s actually happening,” said co-owner Karim Walji.
Some clients are already asking that their custom steel orders be put on hold, because they can’t pay the 25 per cent tariff.
“It’s devastating to our business,” said Walji. “Again, 75 per cent of our business is U.S. bound, so we’ve got to find new markets.”
Walji added that the steel industry here in B.C. is not very strong, because there are few big steel projects.
“A company like ours, it’s going to be really hard for us to survive in those conditions,” he said.
Santevia is also looking to pivot to markets outside the U.S.
“We’re going to focus more on the United Kingdom. We launched in the UK last year and we’re exporting to the UK. Australia wasn’t on our roadmap for 2025. It definitely is now,” said Gohl.
For both small businesses, the longer this goes on, the harder it will be.
“I’m hoping that cooler heads prevail, that the American people realize that this is going to impact them as much as it’s going to impact us,” said Walji.
“What are we doing arguing with our neighbors, right? It just makes no sense,” added Gohl.
“I do hope that we can come up with a political solution.”
