Small companies in Canada face a “double blow” in the trade war with us

After 142 years of grinding, packing, rice and rice flour, Dainty Foods was on a roll.

The increased demand for cooked rice and flavor made for microwave suddenly raised the only rice mill wealth in Canada.

The company was already updating its factory in Windsor, Ontario, and it had plans to build a new border factory in Detroit to meet the demand from American customers.

Now, all that has been raised and the presence of the company in particular.

The terrible view of Dainty Foods reflects the broader repercussions of the trade war that erupted between Canada and the United States. President Trump’s measures in the field of customs tariffs and reprisals in Canada have caused deep wounds to Canadian and medium -sized Canadian companies, which are now facing escalation costs to transport goods back and forth across the border.

Dainty Foods should pay more than 25 percent to import rice from the United States and face the possibility of higher costs to export products to America if Mr. Trump continues more tariff threats.

“We are likely to stare in a double blow that no company can carry,” said James Maitland, CEO of Dainty. “We somewhat laughed when we heard President Trump saying he did this until people are forced to build in the United States well, we were doing it. But we crushed financially.”

After about eight weeks of rice bags across the border before Mr. Trump imposed a 25 percent tariff this month, Dante commented on sending goods for a short period to American grocery chains, which represented 80 percent of its sales.

Mr. Maitland said that, given Mr. Trump, he has no way to make plans with any confidence. If American customs duties are re -imposed for any time period, he added: “This company does not become viable.”

Often it works with slim profit margins and thin financial pillows, you struggle with younger companies throughout Canada, such as Dainty, which has about 120 workers, in order to move in the face between the two countries on customs tariffs.

Many tariffs have been exposed to many customs tariffs on American goods. Among nearly 100,000 small and medium -sized companies that are part of the Canadian Federation of Independent Companies, nearly half of the import from the United States, according to Dan Kelly, the group president, who said that “uncertainty and economic effects of the tariff” are just a destruction.

The Trump administration is expected to reach Canada with another round of tariffs on April 2. The president fell to his 25 percent definition on Canadian commodities, but still imposes fees on a large number of exports, including steel and aluminum.

Triffor Tombi, economist at Calgary University in Alberta, said after decades of trading across open borders, the smaller companies also lacks experience to decipher the complexities of the customs tariff system.

He said: “Wal Mart will discover it.” “They have people or can employ people.” He added that small companies “do not have this option.”

So far, Dainty has spent about $ 25,000 (about $ 17,300) on consultants and commercial lawyers.

But this level of spending is impossible for John Les Chan, the husband and wife team that owns Wonder Pens, a stationery store in Toronto, and like Dainty, feel pressure by the two governments.

While Wonder Pens mostly depends on Canadian customers, Mr. Chan said it was concerned that Americans who buy them online will stop if more customs tariffs are presented and their goods have increased. Canadian definitions also mean a higher price for envelopes and other elements imported by the store from the United States.

Mr. Chan said he was also feeling the pain of the low value of the Canadian dollar, which was another victim of the commercial battle, which led to the high prices of some products from abroad.

“We are just two attempts, pushing our bills and keeping our employees working,” said Mr. Chan, who opened 12 years ago and has two part -time employees in addition to himself. “All this is uncertain.”

Only on the road from a major car factory in Windsor, there is a frequent interface carried by Ron Sim, the film photographer, to a visual design and test center. It mainly focuses on making sets that transform the camera lenses that are still being used in digital animated cameras.

Mr. Sim transmitted the production of the exactly crowded metal parts that he relied twice as a result of Mr. Trump.

When Mr. Trump imposed a tariff on China during his first administration, Mr. Sim transferred production to Thailand.

Then, before the presidential elections for the past year, Mr. Sim said that he is thinking about himself: “This will get worse.” Therefore, in an attempt to protect sales to the United States, the source of three quarters of his business, is close to manufacturing it from the house and opened a small factory in Haru, the town of Mazraa, south of Windsor.

Now, it seems, this step may not save him from the tariff.

“I never thought he would do so to Canada,” said Mr. Sim after a 25 -percent tariff. “So this surprised me, especially after millions were spent on machines and brought manufacturing to Windsor.”

It is unclear how his customers in the United States – which include a large photography retail dealer in New York, many rental homes photo equipment and visual homes, as well as online shoppers – will interact with any tariff that dates back on April 2. Old price transfers are competing with new low -cost and high -quality lenses from China.

Mr. Sim said: “I feel that I walk in this rope.” “At the present time, I am standing steadfast, keep my balance and see where everything goes as long as possible.”

Throughout the city, the microwave package is located in the Dainty Foods, which replaced the old age line that made canned rice, in a glittering area renewed. But it is also half an empty.

Manually manually there are finished bags bearing the names of American retailers, including Aldi, Walmart and Whole Foods. As part of expansion and modernization, Dainty bought robots and was adding a second production line.

But Mr. Maitland said that the company was not sure whether it would move forward with its plans, given that there is no clarity about what will happen with the current definitions or new definitions that may come.

The mill asked the Canadian government to exempt rice imports from the definitions, but it did not receive a response. The Ministry of Finance in Canada, which determines the definitions, did not respond to the comment.

“No one has a crystal ball,” said Mr. Maitland. “No one knows if this will be a few weeks, no one knows if it is a few months or if this is the new life. There is no clear way.”