Ottawa businesses react to U.S. pause on tariff talks

The owner of Ottawa’s Ambico hopes U.S. President Donald Trump’s halt to Canada-U.S. trade talks is temporary. CTV’s Camille Wilson reports.

Local businesses in Ottawa are placed in uncertainty after U.S. President Donald Trump announced his intention to terminate trade talks with Canada.

On Thursday, Trump posted to his social media platform Truth Social, saying he was suspending trade talks with Canada after the Ontario government paid for an anti-tariff ad featuring Ronald Reagan, which the president called fraudulent.

Now, Ottawa businesses with ties to the U.S. say they’re facing even more uncertainty.

Ambico, a steel and wood door manufacturing company based in Ottawa that ships to the United States and has been in operation for the last 70 years, say they are reliant on Canada’s southern neighbours for business, and tariffs are a daily concern.

“I woke up, I was disappointed, and I thought, ‘oh, here we go again.’ Our business is tied to the American marketplace, and it continues to be tied in that way,” says Jack Shinder, CEO of Ambico.

Ambico currently has crates ready to be shipped to Texas and Maryland, and Shinder says he hopes this is all temporary.

“Three quarters of our business goes over the border, and we have to make our peace with doing business in the United States,” says Shinder.

Shinder says they have a process in place to largely avoid tariffs.

“Largely because of the USMCA –– NAFTA two or NAFTA three, as I call it –– which allows us to ship products tariff free into the Americas right now,” says Shinder.

Shinder says many of AMBICO’s products are made out of American steel rather than Canadian, which allows them to get product into the U.S.

Ottawa’s Mayor, Mark Sutcliffe says while there is economic uncertainty right now, he is remaining hopeful.

“People in Ottawa and business owners in Ottawa are very worried about the future and worried about the economic battle that we’re having with the U.S Having said that, I think there’s a lot of a lot to be optimistic about in Ottawa right now as well. There’s a lot going on in the tech sector,” says Sutcliffe

Sutcliffe says even though people are concerned about the future they are doing everything they can to diversify and grow Ottawa’s local economy.

Shinder says he’s committed to manufacturing in Ottawa as that’s what AMBICO has built their business around for the last 40 years in dealing with the U.S.

“It doesn’t change anything in the near term. It injects, a concern over the long term about whether the Canadian government is going to be able to negotiate, a new deal with the Americans after the Christmas Agreement expires or has to be renewed in July of 2026. That’s a real concern,” says Shinder.

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