‘Cancel!’: Some RV dealers pledge to scrap orders from U.S. manufacturers if tariffs proceed

Local RV dealers are buying Canadian, as the weak dollar and potential mounting costs add up, CTV London's Sean Irvine reports.

Most dealers at this weekend’s RV Show in London plan to cancel all American-made orders if threatened tariffs proceed.

That represents more than two-thirds of all units manufactured for the Canadian market.

The primary reason for the pledge was the anticipated revolt of customers, including Justin Hagan.

“It’s definitely going to add increased to costs. You know 25 per cent on a trailer, that has already got 40 per cent added for exchange, that’s a big deal now,” stated the Courtright, Ontario resident.

It is enough for Andy Thomson, the owner of Can-Am RV near London, to go ahead with scrapping all U.S. orders if tariffs proceed. He did the same thing when the first tariff threat was issued earlier this month.

“Ourselves, we canceled $3 million in orders. Lots of dealers were similar,” he told CTV News London.

Don Ferguson, the owner of RV World in St. Thomas, made a similar move.

“We’ve told our manufacturers if the tariffs come in, don’t ship us any product that the U.S. tariffs apply. I mean our dollar is bad enough.”

Yet this weekend, Ferguson said sales have been brisk as buyers try to beat any tariffs.

Others are looking to buy Canadian. However, home-manufactured trailers and RVs represent only a segment of the market. Canadian-made stickers are featured prominently on those units displayed at the show. A few are made right here in Southwestern Ontario.

“Unfortunately, there’s not enough Canadian products. Five per cent of the whole industry is from across Canada.”

On the other side of the threat, 12 per cent of U.S.-built RVs are shipped to Canada.

Thomson said that’s a huge hit stateside.

“You can’t take 12 per cent of sales away from any company and not go from a profit to a loss position. So, there is going to be a lot of hurt everywhere.”

But perhaps a little less if Canadians buy from home.

“Yeah, we’d be looking Canadian-made,” stated Jason Kelch of Sarnia Ontario. “And, obviously, price is something that you have to be concerned about.”