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th ei fp .c a Th e IF P -H al to n H ill s | T hu rs da y, Ju ly 26 ,2 01 8 | 34 da. But now the vendor has to account for a new reality of trade hostility, wherein the U.S. under President Donald Trump slaps import taxes on Canadian steel and aluminum, and Ottawa re- sponds in kind with $16.6- billion in tariffs of its own on a range of goods entering Canada from the U.S., in- cluding - yep - water heaters. That means McDonald's business now has to pay the 25-per-cent U.S. tariff on the Canadian steel it sends to Michigan, and then fork over an additional 10 per cent when its finished water heaters are sent back to Canada for sale - a one-two punch that McDonald calls an "unintended conse- quence" of the tariff tit-for- tat between neighbouring countries. "We agree there should be a retaliation, so long as it's balanced," said McDo- nald, who explained that his company's competitors in Canada aren't disadvan- taged in the same way be- cause their supply chains are set up differently. "We feel there should be some sort of exemption or accounting for that," he said. Bradford White is among Canadian businesses that, while generally supportive of the Liberal government's response to Trump's tariffs, argue Canada's retaliatory import taxes are causing undue damage at home. To counter that, Ottawa has drafted a $2-billion aid pack- age to help Canadian busi- nesses affected by the tariffs and minimize job losses. The government extended worksharing agreements to avoid layoffs, and provided funding to retrain workers, help improve the competi- tiveness of Canadian manu- facturers, and support com- panies in efforts to diversify their customer bases away from the U.S. But many businesses will still face significant dis- ruption, having structured themselves over the years on the assumption that the border between Canada and the U.S. would stay open to the flow of goods, said Wer- ner Antweiler, a business professor at the University of British Columbia who specializes in international trade. "People are getting blind- sided, because we trusted that the relationship be- tween Canada and the Unit- ed States would be one of friendship and co-opera- tion," even if there are long- term disagreements such as the softwood lumber dis- pute, he said. "This is all being upend- ed by these completely un- necessary, counterproduc- tive and destructive sort of tariffs." Pierre-Olivier Herbert, press secretary to Finance Minister Bill Morneau, said in an emailed statement that the government will consider applications for waivers or reimbursements from the tariffs, after con- sulting with stakeholders and looking at each request through a special commit- tee. "The selection of prod- ucts on the final (tariff) list was informed by the feed- back we received from Ca- nadians, as well as our gov- ernment's internal analy- sis," Herbert said. "We recognize that there may be specific circum- stances where relief from Canadian surtaxes may be appropriate." Sara Anghel, president of the National Marine Man- ufacturers Association, has already written to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stressing that Canadian boat dealers are alarmed by the government's inclusion of recreational boat imports from the U.S. on its tariff list. She said upwards of 95 per cent of recreational boats sold in Canada are imported from the U.S., and that the roughly 1,000 boat dealers in her association are now con- templating cancelling or- ders of new boats or strug- gling to find cash flow to pay the new import tax. Like McDonald and his water heaters, Anghel said she wants Ottawa to exempt recreational boats from its retaliatory tariffs. "We're going to see a rip- ple effect as this continues," she said, referring to poten- tial job losses, closures and higher prices for consum- ers. "As a Canadian, I com- pletely support and under- stand why we need to fight this tariff war," she added. "This is about protecting Canadian middle class jobs and our Canadian dealers, which are small family- owned businesses." McDonald, meanwhile, has written to the Finance Department to ask for finan- cial relief or an exemption from the tariff. Until that happens, he said he expects to lose market share to his competitors. "We're doing the right thing as far as Canada is concerned," he said, point- ing to how his company buys Canadian steel. "That's what really irks us more than anything." CANADA Continued from page 1 DESPITE GOVERNMENT EFFORTS, BUSINESSES STILL FACE SIGNIFICANT DISRUPTION "People are getting blindsided, because we trusted that the relationship between Canada and the United States would be one of friendship and co-operation," - Paul McDonald Businesseseligibleto takepartmustmeetthe followingcriteria: •Aprivateorpublic company/organization •Government/municipalityor nonprofitorganization •Haveaphysicalpresenceinthe Haltonregion •Have20ormorefulltimeemployees •Havebeeninbusinessfor1year ormore Benefitstobecoming aHaltonEmployerof ChoiceAwardwinner: •Reducedturnover •Loweroperatingcosts • Increasedproductivity •PositiveemployerbrandingandPR •Moreengagedandcommittedworkforce •Highercustomersatisfactionandloyalty All interestedorganizations cancontactCCEOCat ccemployerofchoice.comor call:416-886-7007 BusB tak follo •Apr com •Gov non A W A R D S •GlassTrophypresentedatspecialevent •Specialpresentation •UnlimiteduseoftheHEOClogo •WinnerslistingsintheBurlingtonPostandwww.insidehalton.com •Pressreleaseforuseinmarketingandpromotionalcampaigns Winnerswillreceive: S P O N S O R E D B Y : Deadlineforsubmissions isJULY31st,2O18 Cell: 416-989-7809 Dave LoDuca • Ceramic & Porcelain Tile Installation • Bathroom Renovations • Kitchen Backsplashes • Heated Floors Thank You CONTRACTOR! 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