N.S. business owner wants aggressive response to Trump tariffs

Politicians and business leaders call for hard-line response to Trump tariffs.

Donald Trump’s tariff threat was the topic of a meeting with leaders in the business community Thursday in Halifax.

“For us, the U.S. market is about 20 per cent of our total sales,” says Jean-Paul Deveau, president of Acadian Seaplants.

That’s significant for Deveau’s company. Still, he’d like to see Canada go head-to-head with the president even though a tariff war could lead to a recession.

“The thing about dealing with a bully like President Trump, the best way to deal with that is to punch the bully in the nose,” Deveau says. “You have to reciprocate, and you have to reciprocate hard. You have to make sure that the United States industry feels the pain like we are going to feel in Canada. That will be difficult. It will be difficult for Canada, and it will be difficult for the United States.”

A newly elected president usually follows a predictable protocol.

“When a president comes into power the first thing that they do is they visit Canada,” says Robert Huish, professor of International Development Studies at Halifax’s Dalhousie University.

That’s not the case with Donald Trump who instead has taken aim at his northern neighbour by threatening a 25 per cent tariff on goods entering the U.S.

“This uncertainty right now is causing confusion both in Canada and the United States and probably delaying some orders, delaying some production and that’s a concern for the business community,” says Patrick Sullivan, president of the Halifax Chamber of Commerce.

Even though the tariff deadline is Saturday, their effects are already being felt.

Sullivan says one Nova Scotia business has had a $20 million contract cancelled by its American customer because of the uncertainty around what the president is actually going to do come Feb. 1.

According to the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, nearly $6 billion worth of goods are traded daily between the two countries.

To soften the blow of tariffs, Huish suggests Canada looks to enhance other trade relationships.

“There’s been some quiet calls so far to increase our partnerships with Europe. We also need to remember that Canada is very much a Pacific nation and there’s many nations in the Pacific who are also going to be experiencing similar sort of threats from the United States in the next four years.”

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