N.S. businesses brace for job losses as trade war begins

Nova Scotians are preparing for a rough ride with the U.S. tariffs.

With trade tariffs now in place, Nova Scotians are preparing for a rough ride.

“It has the potential of being pretty devastating, I think, for many workers in this province,” says Danny Cavanagh, president of the Nova Scotia Federation of Labour.

Cavanagh represents 70,000 workers in the province and he’s expecting job losses. He would like the government set up a worker protection fund to help them and their communities during this tumultuous time.

“We need to ensure workers and their paycheques and their income is protected so they can continue to pay for their homes, put food on the table, buy the medication. They need and look after their families,” Cavanagh says. “When communities in Nova Scotia lose those paycheques in those small, rural communities, it’s going to be quite devastating.”

President Donald Trump’s 25 per cent levy on all Canadian goods became active March 4 at midnight.

“It’s going to catch many American and Canadian consumers paying more for a lot of different goods that cross both back-and-forth through the U.S. and Canada,” says Chicago based petroleum analyst Patrick De Haan. “There’s been a lot of free trade between Canada and the U.S. So much has been built up that there’s going to be a lot of this collateral damage both going north and going south.”

Trump is also slapping 10 per cent on oil in a move De Haan says will affect Americans more than people in Eastern Canada.

“I would say it’s going to be less of an impact on the Maritimes. Thankful your oil is generally unaffected by any tariffs,” he says.

Some people in the Maritime tourism sector are seeing an uptick in bookings, particularly from European and Canadian visitors.

“I would say that, especially with Canadians. I absolutely believe that it’s because they’ve made the decision to travel within Canada this year to a large extent,” says Dennis Campbell, CEO of Ambassatours.

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