‘You can’t pivot overnight’: Area manufacturers weigh options amid trade war

Newmarket and Aurora’s manufacturing community gathered to talk strategy about managing through tariffs and the ongoing Canada-US trade war.

The Central York Chamber of Commerce, Aurora Chamber of Commerce, and Newmarket-Aurora MP Sandra Cobena hosted a manufacturer roundtable Oct. 13 in Aurora at the Microtel Inn and Suites. The event was focused on providing manufacturers with resources and government programming, while also discussing what governments need to do to address the situation.

“We want to make sure that the doors stay open. The last thing we want to see is a quiet shop floor, or the lights switched off,” Cobena said. “We want to keep them in Newmarket, Aurora. We want to keep them in Ontario. We want to keep them in Canada.”

Dozens of manufacturers attended the meeting, with representatives including Cobena, the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, and the Business Development Bank of Canada, along with a foreign trade lawyer.

The trade war escalated in August, with the US increasing tariffs to 50 per cent on a range of goods on Aug. 19, with Canada responding in kind. Aurora Chamber of Commerce CEO Alison Mumford said it is important to get everyone in a room together to talk about the impacts.

“The more people we have in the room, the more stories that we have, the bigger impact we can have,” she said.

After the panel members each spoke about what their organizations are doing and how businesses can benefit, local manufacturers asked questions about the available programs and what is happening in their business.

Kurt Wenzel of Canaco Industries said he wanted to attend the session to better understand what is happening in the sector. He said it was a great session, and it helped point him in the right direction in support.

“It’s mostly the uncertainty and the volatility. Input costs have gone up, commodities have all gone up,” he said. “We work a lot with aluminium and steel and metals and all of those have gone up dramatically. And so we have to pass on those costs to our customers ot reduce our margins.”

CleanRiver Recycling Solutions CEO Hugh Caines said that tariffs halted their plans to grow and hire people. He said he appreciates the work politicians are trying to do. He said the politicians need to make things easier on Canadian businesses.

“You can’t pivot overnight. It takes a while,” he said. “Really help us with the red tape.”

Toufic Constantin owns Sharpology, which manufactures knives. He is trying to get into more manufacturing but said the trade war has made that increasingly difficult.

“It’s difficult to do that, mainly from a purchasing, machinery perspective,” he said, saying it has become difficult to deal with both the US and China. “It’s one thing to maintain our wonderful companies that we have here, but for people like me, it’s challenge to get in.”

Central York Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Carly Laxton-Oroz said the conversation was a long-time coming, and they hope to have more conversations like this in the future.

“This is what chambers do,” she said. “We’re here to support you. We’re here to guide you.”