As the U.S.-Canada trade war drives up the cost of shopping trips south of the line and sends consumers in search of Canadian-made companies and products, some Langley businesses are seeing a rise in sales, said Chamber of commerce CEO Cory Redekop.
"There's places that have been locally owned and and very proud of that for a long, long time," Redekop told the Langley Advance Times. "And I'm pleased to see people paying attention to it now."
“I think we’re seeing more of our members kind of leaning into that and identifying, ‘hey, we’re Canadian owned’,” Redekop commented.
"Everyone's just attuned to shopping local and being aware of where their dollars are [going]. We need to be supporting our local companies."
After the U.S. imposed tariffs, the federal government put 25 per cent tariffs on 1,200 U.S. products popular with cross-border shoppers on March 4.
Since then, social media has been full of posts from travellers who report Canada Border Services officers have been issuing warnings about the tariffs to same-day shoppers without immediately charging them.
They said they’ve been told the only exemptions will apply under long-established regulations, up to $200 if they have been out of the country 48 hours, $800 if they have been out of the country for more than 48 hours.
For years, the Greater Langley Chamber of Commerce has been arguing for an end to the common practice of customs officers waiving duty charges on day-trippers, people who aren’t charged even though they haven’t been away long enough for an exemption.
“That’s always been an irritant for us,” Redekop remarked.
“If tariffs are applied, we’re fine with them being applied fairly at the border for cross-border shoppers. There’s no real reason for shoppers to not be looking local right now.”
“Between the hassle of going down there, the dollar being in the tank, and now the tariffs being applied, I can’t imagine who in their right mind thinks it makes a lot of sense to shop in the States, regardless if you wanna support local or not,” Redekop added.
“At the end of the day, our priority is we want people to be shopping in Langley, to be looking at their locally-owned businesses and trying to support jobs. Maybe finding some small businesses that I might not otherwise have thought to visit [or] instead of ordering through a big international online company, instead of going down across the border to get my eggs, I’m going to be doing that [here]. Not that you want eggs down there anyway, right now.”
A statement from the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) said the “countermeasures will apply to commercial shipments, goods imported by mail or courier, and goods imported by individual travellers above their personal exemptions. Surtaxes will remain in place until the U.S. eliminates its trade-restrictive measures against Canada.”
It added travellers can help speed up processing times by coming prepared with their travel documents and receipts in hand prior to arriving at the border.
Goods included in the surtax order “are not prohibited from importation; rather they are subject to a surtax, in addition to all other duties and taxes, to be paid upon importation.”
For personal goods, the surtax is assessed by the CBSA at the port of entry, while individuals shipping goods through the mail or by courier will pay upon delivery.
A complete list of goods subject to the surtax is available on Finance Canada’s website.
