Murray Wood: Who's hot... and who's not
Every Friday, Murray Wood takes a look back at the week's news and decides who's hot... and who's not. This week's list ...
Canadian businesses across the country are bracing for the newest act in the U.S.-Canada trade war.
The U.S. imposed 50 per cent tariffs on roughly $28 billion worth of Canadian goods Aug. 21 after trade talks fell apart.
Both Canada and the U.S. are now targeting each other with a barrage of tariffs. They cover a wide variety of products, such as dairy, seafood, forestry and wood, steel, aluminum, copper, clothing and agricultural equipment.
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Terry Swystun is the general manager and owner of Full Line Ag.
He said ahead of the trade negotiations falling apart, he was quite hopeful for a deal.
“I was feeling very positive that everything was going to be settled because it basically announced that the settlement had been arranged and was being set, and then they walked away from the tables at the last minute. I don’t know the details, and I don’t think they’ve released the total details of what they walked away from,” Swystun said.
“You’re hearing on both sides of the border. The Americans are saying it was a political ploy to walk away, and the Canadians said because there were things in place that didn’t align with what we’re doing in the future, it would tamper our trading with other countries and stuff we had to get approval from from the United States.”
“So I was positive. Now I’m really worried about it, and I really think cooler heads will prevail, and we have to get along. Seventy-one per cent of our exports go to the States, so we need to get along and make something work. I don’t know how we do it. But right now, I’m uneasy. I’m nervous about next year, definitely,” said Swystun.
As for bracing for more tariffs and how they will impact his business, Swystun said it’s made for some difficult conversations and a drive to get equipment as soon as possible.
“Our impact is on orders that are on their way. I’ve got a big floater coming. It floats on fertilizer. It’s an expensive item. It’s a million-dollar piece of equipment, and I phoned to get a truck under it so that it gets picked up before the eighth of September. So I can beat the tariffs,” Swystun said.
“If these tariffs hit on some of this big equipment, it’s thousands of dollars that it could impact us by. But more than anything in our line, the small equipment, the mowers and attachments, that’s the stuff that we’re trying to get on the ground into Canada right now before the tariffs hit, so we can guarantee some prices if things don’t get settled down. That’s our big impact.”
It’s not only new equipment that’s being hit by these tariffs; it’s also used equipment.
“I can’t ship one of my tractors back to the States as a used piece of equipment. And right now, there’s an overabundance of used equipment in Western Canada, and it gets tariffed going to the States right now, so we had buyers for some of our pieces of equipment, and now we can’t send it because the tariffs are on those pieces of equipment going back to the States,” he said.
“So I have no opportunity to market my stuff across the border on my used equipment to help our bottom line. So, we need them back at the bargaining table and get this all straightened out, or it could be a disaster ordering equipment for next year.”
As politicians emphasize a push across the country to buy Canadian goods, whether that be at the grocery or liquor store, Swystun says he hasn’t really seen a similar push for Canadian farm equipment.
“There’s a big tractor manufacturer in Canada — it’s called Versatile, and they make big four-wheel-drive tractors and big track machines and stuff like that. They’re Canadian-made, and we have not seen a big surge in people asking for it. It bothers me because I think we should all be looking to buy something that’s built in Canada and support the Canadian manufacturers a little bit better,” Swystun said.
“We’re so lucky in Saskatchewan, because we have the biggest manufacturers of tillage equipment, for example, of any place in probably North America. So we have all the manufacturers here. We’re blessed with that, but there is tractor manufacturing in Canada, and they’re made in Winnipeg.”
“I would love to see more people inquiring to buy these because they make good-quality farm equipment,” Swystun said.
