How new Trump tariff swaps are impacting some Canadian businesses | Hanomansing Live

And we're going to continue with this. We want to talk to Guy Pelopiou. He is the co-owner of Oshawa Carpet One. And that's a family-run company that sells flooring products like carpet, which is among the new items that are now going to be subject to tariffs. Guy, thank you for your time. I'm sure, well, today can't have been a fun one. Well, thank you for having me, first of all. This has certainly been something that's been up and down over the last little while. it kind of takes me back to COVID and having to watch all the legislation of the government. So it's something that we got used to then, unfortunately. I mean, what is it going to mean for your company? Well, you know, last time it was the tariffs coming in. This time it's the tariffs going out. And, you know, for us specifically, it's not necessarily going to be huge impact because we don't sell into the U.S. However, all of our Canadian distributors and manufacturers sell into the U.S. So for them, it's going to become an issue, which can mean some some fluctuations in in their inventory levels in what they're doing as far as sales go so you know we can see some waves coming through as far as pricing goes but um you know you mentioned carpet on that list one other thing that i noticed on that list was um uh assembled wood flooring panels so you know i have to dive into it a little bit deeper because this is still new and i'm still researching it but my take on that is that's going to affect our hardwood industry as well and you know while canada has a small manufacturing industry and carpet and the vast majority of our exports go to the u.s in that industry it's not huge in comparison to our hardwood industry and a lot of that goes to the u.s so my concern is more with the canadian hardwood industry and how it's going to impact them and as such as we lose canadian hardwood manufacturers it impacts us here because then we have to bring things in from the u.s or overseas and that drives prices up for our consumers you know that's a theme that we have been hearing time and time again when we've spoken to businesses who suddenly find themselves on a list that they hadn't expected to be on and the immediate reaction is a little bit of shock i think but then also i have to i can't really form an opinion yet because there's a lot to still learn about what this is going to mean have you talked to to colleagues or your counterparts at other companies that are also just taking all this in yeah i've had a few discussions with a couple of our suppliers and some other retailers and you know again it's still relatively new so everybody's just trying to figure out how this is going to impact everybody's just kind of settled in from the last tariffs that hit in and found a new groove and figured out a new way to do business and now this comes out of left field again which you know in hindsight shouldn't be expected because this is kind of the way that things are going geopolitically right now you got to kind of be prepared to move in any direction but everybody is is trying to figure out how it's going to impact us, looking at supporting our Canadian suppliers even more now than we were to make sure that they can stay in business. Can you talk to me a little bit of what it means to move in any direction? I mean, you woke up this morning not knowing or expecting that there was going to be some kind of an announcement or a new list and you find yourself smack dab on it. But you've kind of been there before and many businesses have. So what have you learned over the last, I guess, year and a half? To be fluid. You know, I'm a forecaster at heart. I always like to forecast a long way into the future to figure out what's happening. I don't forecast more than a couple of months in advance now. I kind of deal with things as they come. And again, we try and keep things as hyper local as we can now. So we support our closest suppliers, our closest companies so that we can keep things in our local community because that's going to have the least impact going forward. When we start to get out too far into the U.S. and even overseas, that's where these kind of things have a huge impact so if we're focusing on our local market then then that's it's not as much of an issue so we've tried to do that over the course of the last year if you can can you know and i don't want to maybe this is hard to do but imagine a time where there is not a tariff list there is there is a trade uh deal that occurs and and that market opens up and you go back to what was the normal will you trust that normal or you know how how might your business practice change given what you've gone through here um short answer no i won't trust it um you know i've always been a proponent of local businesses and supporting local communities and supporting those closest to us this just accentuates that fact that we have to support our own countrymen we have to support our own communities because ultimately they're the ones that support us so i think going forward and i think i speak for probably a lot of people in Canada. This kind of thing happening just shows that we just need to kind of trust each other as opposed to looking outside because we really have everything we need here. Guy Pelupeu, co-owner of Oshawa Carpet One. It was great to have you on the show and get your perspective. Thank you. I appreciate you having me on. And like I was saying, now is the time to buy because a lot of that stuff that was going to the U.S. is going to be coming into the Canadian market. Prices are going to probably dip a little bit on some of that hard surface flooring while the manufacturers try and clear out inventory. And it helps support them and keep them in business for when this is done so they're still around okay well that's some good final advice there thank you very much thanks for having me the u.s tariff announcement came certainly as bad news for some businesses that found themselves suddenly added to the tariff list but it was good news for others who found themselves suddenly exempted from tariffs that had been put in place and my next guest Baha Nami in surrey he is among those maybe breathing a sigh of relief. He's the managing partner and co-founder of CanCore. His company manufactures corrugated cardboard packaging, which, as I say, fortunately is now exempt from the 50 percent tariffs that have been put in place. Baha, thank you for your time. Talk to me about what went through your mind when the news was breaking and it was kind of, you know, up and down as things were going. And what was your reaction? Thank you for having me, Sarah. Well, we do certainly welcome this announcement. But I do think we need to distinguish between reversing a policy and reversing its consequences. So you can reverse a tariff, but you can't reverse its consequences. OK, talk to me about those consequences. How has it been for you since that 50 percent tariff was put in place? Well, the immediate some of the immediate effects are losing customers, obviously south of the border and our supply chain being disrupted and supply chain of the businesses who do use corrugated packaging being disrupted. So commercial relationships take years to build. Obviously, it doesn't help when a sudden change in policy comes about, but we've managed so far. How much of your company depends on U.S. customers? About 50% of our overall annual revenue travels south of the border. However, where there is quite a bit of presence by American packaging products in Canada as well, which I understand Canada had to introduce some remissions earlier this month. And thankfully, right now, we're going to go back to the level playing field, at least. We're looking at some pictures of packaging as you're talking. Can you explain to me, what exactly is it, corrugated cardboard sheets? What are they used for? Well, corrugated packaging is everything from Amazon boxes to any product that gets transported. Nowadays, there is basically the best option for transporting goods, foods and beverages. Manufacturing goods continues to remain corrugated packaging due to its recyclability and full sustainable cycle. And there is a quite strong industry in Canada. However, it was threatened since early 2025 by these tariff discussions. And companies like ours, we have tried to diversify our supply chain and not rely solely on American raw material or American client base only. 50% of your customer base was in the United States. The fact that this has been lifted, you know, just as we're approaching the U.S. midterm elections. What does that tell you about how your U.S. customers were feeling in terms of not being able to access your products as they had previously been able to? Very anxious. That is something that has been quite disruptive because these, as I mentioned earlier, these relationships take ages to build. And at the same time, now that with these discussions and the high level of uncertainty that was created since early last year, that means now, regardless of what happens with remissions or exemptions from both countries, businesses are going to continue looking at localizing their supply chain and not relying on one another, which is unfortunate, obviously. But at the same time, we will continue, obviously, working with our partners and clients down south, and we are in constant communication. However, it makes it quite difficult to make medium and long-term investments, and we will continue focusing on Canadian businesses as our number one priority. Even though it has now been lifted, you're not going back to business as usual. That's what you're saying. 100%. Yes, we are making meaningful investments, and this is not just our company. This is industry-wide. One of the silver linings was that early on, the entire industry, both West Coast and East Coast, We got together through organizations such as CCCA, and we started looking at the available capacity in Canada and whether we can, in fact, substitute American imports by Canadian capacity. And the resounding answer was yes, and this was communicated to the federal and provincial governments as well. Every time we talk to a different business owner, learning how you have all navigated this, it's fascinating. Baha Naimi, thank you very much. That's Baha Naimi, managing partner and co-founder of CanCore. Reached him in Surrey, British Columbia. Good to talk with you. Thank you.