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CFIB president Dan Kelly.<\/p>\nCanada-U.S. business relationships have weakened during trade war, CFIB says<\/p>\n
As CUSMA negotiations move into a new phase after the U.S. government\u2019s failure to renew the trade agreement with Canada, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) is calling on Prime Minister Mark Carney\u2019s Liberal government to ensure small business priorities remain front and centre.\u00a0<\/p>\n
CFIB president Dan Kelly.<\/p>\n
On July 1, when the Trump administration decided it would require annual reviews of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement instead of renewing it in its current form, minister responsible for Canada-U.S. Trade Dominic LeBlanc issued a statement after a meeting with U.S. and Mexico counterparts.<\/p>\n
Global economic uncertainty<\/p>\n
\u201cIn this meeting, I reaffirmed Canada\u2019s unwavering support for the CUSMA and its renewal,\u201d said LeBlanc.<\/p>\n
\u201cCanada approaches these discussions from a position of strength and with the goal of preserving and strengthening one of the most successful trading relationships in the world,\u201d he continued. \u201cAt a time of global economic uncertainty, Canada is a stable, reliable and trusted partner.\u201d<\/p>\n
Small business owners in Canada \u201care frustrated\u201d with the uncertainty, said Dan Kelly, president of the CFIB, Canada\u2019s largest association of small and medium-sized businesses with 103,000 members across the country.<\/p>\n
He said the ongoing uncertainty around tariffs and trade has delayed real decisions on investment and growth, while adding that \u201cprotecting Canada\u2019s existing CUSMA exemptions must remain government\u2019s top priority.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile Canada\u2019s continued tariff-free CUSMA access has helped enormously,\u201d said Kelly, \u201csmall businesses are facing several major pain-points, including sectoral tariffs on steel and aluminum and challenges for small volume exporters in demonstrating CUSMA compliance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Most SMEs want best deal possible<\/p>\n
According to the CFIB, two-thirds (64 per cent) of small businesses in Canada support taking the time needed to secure the best possible terms for renewed or renegotiated CUSMA, compared to only 16 per cent who would prefer a quicker but potentially less favourable agreement.<\/p>\n
The CFIB maintains that Canada\u2013U.S. business relationships have weakened significantly during the trade war, with 75 per cent of SMEs saying the tariff fight has strained their relationships with U.S. partners or clients in April 2026, up sharply from 49 per cent in March 2025. Only 40 per cent of small firms now view the U.S. as a reliable trading partner.<\/p>\n
As a result, nearly half (48 per cent) of Canada\u2019s SMEs trading with the U.S. have shifted to non\u2011U.S. suppliers or customers. Among those, nearly three-quarters are pivoting to domestic markets. Beyond Canada, Asia (40 per cent) and EU countries (39 per cent) are the top alternatives though high shipping costs, border delays and complex custom procedures limit broader trade diversification.<\/p>\n
No replacement for U.S. market<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile business owners are doing what they can to diversify their trade, we\u2019re never going to be able to entirely replace the 340-million-person market that exists right along our border,\u201d said Kelly. \u201cThat\u2019s why it\u2019s so important to get this right and get a deal that business owners are confident will hold for years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
As talks continue, according to Kelly, negotiators should seek out areas where there is common ground for improvement, including making CUSMA more accessible to small business owners, streamlining customs rules at the border and clarifying rules of origin.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs negotiators look ahead to the next version of the agreement, they need to understand it\u2019s not an easy process for small businesses to navigate,\u201d said Corinne Pohlmann, CFIB executive vice-president of advocacy. \u201cUnclear rules of origin, and high compliance and administrative costs mean some small firms are forced to weigh paying tariffs instead of using CUSMA.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can do better,\u201d she continued. \u201cOttawa must ensure that small business voices are included in trade negotiations and secure a deal that is clear, accessible and works for businesses of every size.\u201d<\/p>\n
Uncertainty hangs over businesses<\/p>\n
In an interview with Newsfirst Multimedia, a spokesperson for the CFIB explained what the fallout might be for Canada\u2019s small and medium-size businesses in light of the non-renewal of CUSMA.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the main concern on our end is that it just continues the ongoing uncertainty that has plagued small business owners since the trade war started,\u201d he said. All the same, he said there is some solace to be found in the July 1 deadline coming and going without great fanfare.<\/p>\n
\u201cBetween the news and what the President was saying, maybe it was a little bit of cause of concern for the public. But knowing that CUSMA remains in place and that the deal doesn\u2019t just end on its own and there\u2019s a whole annual process to go through, I think that provides a little bit of certainty amidst the uncertainty.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the main thing as negotiations go forward and we continue in this uncertain situation, we don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen with the deal, we don\u2019t know what changes are going to be made,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd for small business owners across the country, that means they\u2019re going to continue to delay investment decisions, hiring decisions, business decisions until the ground becomes a little bit more stable.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canada-U.S. business relationships have weakened during trade war, CFIB says As CUSMA negotiations move into a new phase…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":124579,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[17,3863,4939,1652,41613,3785,437,2878],"class_list":["post-124578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-canada","tag-cfib","tag-cusma","tag-dan-kelly","tag-laval-qc","tag-small-business","tag-trade-war","tag-u-s"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}