Sask. business deals with uncertainty amid pause on new U.S. tariffs

A home and wood-cut art business in Regina is trying to roll with the punches amid the three-day pause on new U.S. tariffs.

Sticks and Doodles co-founder Kyle Moffatt said his business paused shipping its wooden ornaments and custom artwork to the United States on Wednesday, the day President Donald Trump’s new 50 per cent tariffs were set to hit Canada, because of all the uncertainty.

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“We can’t guarantee pricing and we can’t guarantee product arriving without issues, and that’s really tough because we have a lot of great customers in the U.S.,” Moffatt said.

The decision comes just one month after the business resumed shipping to the U.S. following an earlier pause due to problems at the border, with some American customers receiving their packages a month late and others getting unexpected bills in the mail.

“We put a lot of work into figuring out all of our paperwork,” Moffatt explained.

“It’s not just shipping out an order – it’s shipping out an order with a whole form about where things are made and what materials are in them.”

After getting that process back on track, the pause on the latest tariff threat has left Moffatt unsure whether the business will be able to ship to the U.S. again. He said its upsetting, explaining that American customers play a key role in growing his online business.

“Truthfully, most Canadians have great relationships with Americans. This has really thrown a wrench into a lot of what we thought we had,” he said.

Moffatt said dealing with the flip-flop of tariffs and tariff threats isn’t easy.

“We have to adjust our whole business every time something happens,” he said.

“We went through last year where we had issues at the border, so we stopped shipping to the U.S. Everything seemed to be okay because we’re CUSMA exempt, since we build everything here, and then all of a sudden an announcement comes out that we’re getting these tariffs, and now the possibility goes back again.”

He said the uncertainty is also affecting many people in the community.

“It causes a lot of anxiety for the staff, because they have uncertainty,” he said. “I think it causes overall uncertainty in the community, so people are maybe a little more careful about what they’re buying.”

At the same time, he said there has been a silver lining.

“The one thing it has definitely done is pushed people to support Canadian businesses, and we felt that, and every small business in Regina has felt that,” Moffatt said.

Moffatt said he’s hopeful Canada and the U.S. can reach a lasting agreement, arguing the impact goes far beyond individual businesses.

“People’s jobs are on the line,” he said. “And it’s not really a surprise with Trump that we had an 11th-hour Twitter post, but at the same time, this is people’s lives. It seems like such a game to him sometimes, but right now we really just need some stability.”

For now, Moffatt said Sticks and Doodles will continue to adapt as the situation changes.

“We’re going to be OK. It’s going to be stressful, but we have to be there for each other,” he said.

“It’s hard to keep up. We do our best.”