Kamloops Chamber seeks feedback on tariff impacts as businesses adapt to growing uncertainty

“We cut back both personally and in here when this all started about a year ago,” Haley said. “We made some choices but we still purchased the things that we absolutely could not source here. Now, we will be making changes.”

Easier said than done though as Haley said sourcing lettuce during the winter months might be difficult as it used to come from the U.S.

“I’m hoping the lovely people at Desert Hills will be able to help me because they import a lot of produce from Mexico,” she said. “Short of that, I’ve got some growling lights and some shelves.”

“I’m really glad about the inter-provincial barriers coming down because I think that’s going to make it a lot easier for us to get grocery products and other staples from across the country.”

These are the kinds of thoughts that the Kamloops and District Chamber of Commerce wants to hear about. It has launched a new survey asking all Kamloops businesses – not just Chamber members – about the impacts they’re facing because of American tariff hikes as well as Canada’s retaliatory tariffs.

“Some will be losing customers from the United States and some their suppliers will be increasing costs of their products,” Chamber executive director Acacia Pangilinan said. “Many – because of all of this tariff turmoil – have already starting looking for other markets.”

“This might be expediting some of that work.”

That is already the case at Erwin’s as Haley said their savoury pies are now sold without aluminum pie plates.

“Those pie plates went up nearly 300 per cent last spring with those tariffs,” Haley said. “I can’t even imagine what we’re going to be hit with over the next few weeks. I was able to source the 8-inch pie plates for our dessert pies but they’re about three and a half times more that what we were paying.”

“This is just another test of our business community’s resiliency,” Pangilinan added. “But, they know how to adapt and they know how to figure things out, but it’s just another test of their will.”

While buying Canadian is often more expensive, Haley said given the current political climate reaching over the border to buy cheaper American products isn’t worth it any more.

“It’s going to take a long, long time for me to feel confident ordering from the States again,” she lamented. “The trust is definitely gone. Now what drives all of those decisions is whether I source everything here in Canada and even better, in B.C.”

“The States was our best trading partner. To me, it was an extension of Canada [but] you can’t just attack a relationship and then expect it to bounce back instantaneously.”

The Kamloops Chamber’s survey was launched on Tuesday (Aug. 25), and Pangilinan said the findings will help inform strategies at both the B.C. and the Canadian chambers of commerce around not just impacts to businesses but also possible government supports.

“We’re working really closely with them right now, and they’re at those tables this week and today like its happening in real time,” Pangilinan said. “The more feedback we could get, the more we can have Kamloops voices as part of those discussions.”

“Businesses like ours where some of the spending is discretionary are definitely going to be impacted, just from the uncertainty,” Haley added. “People are going to be nervous, they’re going to be scared, and we’re in the same boat.”

“Fingers crossed it all works out, because it’s going to be interesting.”

by Victor Kaisar

Kamloops Chamber seeks feedback on tariff impacts as businesses adapt to growing uncertainty

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