‘You get a tariff, you get a tariff, and you get a tariff. Everyone goes home with a tariff today.”

… said no famous talk show host ever.

What unique times we live in when, in fact, as of yesterday, just about everybody on the planet may indeed become affected by the generous gifting of tariffs handed out by the US Administration. Countries all over the world are now subjected to tariffs on any goods they might sell into the United States. For some, this might be new territory, for others, likely not so much. Nonetheless this is new ground for companies to have to navigate in a business environment already in a state of flux since the beginning of the year.

At The Branded Group, we dedicate ourselves to supporting and advancing both small and large businesses across Canada. We help them navigate the dynamic and often challenging consumer packaged goods and durable goods sectors within our diverse economy.

Additionally, we are now facing the effect of the Canadian government’s current retaliatory tariffs placed on incoming products imported from the US. One might argue the benefits of these counter tariffs as they do indeed affect consumers here as much as the US tariffs affect the American consumer and may indeed not have much impact on the situation stateside.

Our goal is to of course avoid all of this by supporting our local Canadian suppliers and manufacturers as much as possible and most of our work does succeed in doing just that. However, there are certain items that we are forced to procure from US suppliers due to no known domestic sources. Case in point, a client of ours buys plastic closures for an automotive aftermarket product which they sell here in Canada and beyond. The plastic closure (cap) has a specialty dispensing feature making it somewhat unique and currently only available from US manufacturers. Previously under the USCMA agreement this closure was not subject to tariffs but as of March 4th this year,  a tariff of  25% now gets added to the client’s next order coming up  in a couple of weeks.

Upon learning of this the client acknowledged the circumstances and took it in stride stating that with any luck perhaps the situation may be sorted out between our governments by then. Given the erratic nature of one certain individual involved that might just be possible. However, I’m not holding my breath.

The purpose of this discussion is to emphasize the care and attention to detail that we at The Branded Group consider essential in fulfilling our oversight and management responsibilities for every project we handle. We believe this commitment is key to delivering the highest standards of quality and ensuring the success of each endeavor.

Tariffs may be with us for some time to come in one form or another as they have been in the past. But, used as a weapon to intimidate and belittle one country over another is a new landscape for most Canadians. But as in the past, when faced with daunting pressures, i.e. world wars, recessions, and pandemics, we have managed to create a resilience that has made us the envy of many people worldwide.

We will persevere, and we will continue as a company and a country to achieve great things. We hope we’ll continue to have our clients, suppliers and colleagues along with us.