Calgary businesses caught in the crossfire in U.S.-China trade war

As the U.S. escalates its trade war with China, local businesses in Calgary are being caught in the crossfire.

In the face of a global market meltdown, U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly backed off his tariffs on most nations for 90 days on Wednesday while further jacking up the tax rate on Chinese imports to 125 per cent.

“It has been stressful,” says Donette Hyslip, co-owner of Action Hobby in Southeast Calgary. “We have a U.S. supplier that sent us a letter trying to explain what they are intending to do about the China tariffs.”

About 60 of the manufacturers that Action Hobby gets their products from are in China, then shipped to the U.S. for distributors to sell to businesses like the Calgary store.

After the latest increase in tariffs on China, the store is now speaking with their suppliers to see if there is a way to bypass the U.S.

“One of the suppliers sent us a letter on Monday that said that their Chinese imports could be as much as 54 per cent increase in price,” says Hyslip. “They’re actually looking at dropping some of their lines because of this.”

The increase in Chinese tariffs comes as the U.S. also puts its temporary pause on what it’s calling reciprocal tariffs on countries.

Action Hobby’s products also come from manufactures in over a dozen different countries, which means if the U.S. does go ahead with those tariffs after 90 days, the pain for the store will go even deeper.

“We are the last ones on our customers’ budgets for where their money goes, because like all of us, we need to have food, shelter and clothing before hobby stuff,” Hyslip says.

Despite reversing course Wednesday on his global trade war following days of market turmoil — Trump did not offer any changes to the tariffs hitting Canada. Adding to that pain are the reciprocal tariffs Canada has imposed against the U.S.

Business groups say there are steps Canada can take to help domestic businesses despite the actions of the U.S. being beyond our country’s control.

Alicia Planincic, Director, Policy and Economics, Business Council of Alberta: “Being able to trade across provinces more easily. These are the things that we should be hard at work on especially right now with the level of uncertainty,” says Alicia Planincic, director of policy and economics at the Business Council of Alberta.

In the meantime, Hyslip and Action Hobby manager Kiara Foisy say they are doing whatever they can to try to keep their prices down.

“We’re doing whatever we can to try to keep our prices…at a reasonable amount for our customers, because our customers are number one for us.”