Steinbach business, agriculture sector sees benefit of CUSMA when dealing with U.S. tariffs

While the U.S. has imposed 35 percent tariffs on Canadian goods leading to financial strain for some businesses, one business in the Southeast is seeing some protection from the tariffs.

Steinbach’s Loewen Windows has been a manufacturer of windows and doors for 120 years. About 80 percent of its business is done in the United States, but the introduction of the 35 percent tariffs have had almost no effect on the business as it is covered under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).

Loewen President and CEO Neil Fast said while his products are covered under CUSMA, he has seen a slight impact by the 50 percent aluminum tariffs on input costs.

“The impact of tariffs so far has not been a huge impact on our business on either selling our product down to the U.S. or bringing in materials because Canada has also applied counter tariffs which impact everything,” he said.

“That being said, the tariffs along with other factors in the residential housing market, people are not building houses as rapidly as they were even a couple of years ago. So that general uncertainty from tariffs certainly doesn’t help our business. It suppresses demand and people chose to put off building these homes that, frankly, is a bigger impact on our business right now than the actual tariffs themselves.”

Also covered by CUSMA is pork and live pigs. Manitoba exports 3.5 million live animals into the U.S. every year. Manitoba Pork general manager Cam Dahl said it’s business as usual for the industry but there is uncertainty as CUSMA is up for renewal in July 2026.

“I think one of the big impacts that we’re seeing is uncertainty and what that means for investment. People are looking at do I expand? Do I build a new barn? Do the processors increase processing capacity? Those kinds of questions are really difficult right now. The business uncertainty is having a significant impact on business,” he said.

“CUSMA is coming up for renegotiation, what’s going to happen? What does the landscape look like. No one knows. And that is having a significant impact.”

During the CUSMA review, the three countries will assess the agreement’s performance and can decide to extend it for another 16 years. If the parties don’t agree to renewal in 2026, they will meet annually until 2036 to decide its fate, potentially leading to a renegotiation or the agreement’s termination.

One of the off-shoots of the tariff war with the U.S. is the buy local movement and the kick-start to removing interprovincial trade barriers.

“One of the things that we’ve recently poled our chamber membership on was how important was it in expanding interprovincial trade to Steinbach’s economic growth,” said Steinbach Chamber of Commerce executive director Tessa Masi. “Eighty-four percent said it was extremely important and that we need easier access to more markets.”

In May, Premier Wab Kinew and Ontario Premier Doug Ford signed memorandums of understanding to tear down interprovincial trade barriers. Ford told journalists at the time that interprovincial trade barriers accounted for $200 billion in lost revenue annually for the country.

“We’re facing a tariff war on two fronts and now is the time to build up this country we love so much,” Kinew stated in a press release at the time. “As premiers, we are all working toward the common goal of powering our Canadian economy toward the future.”

In 2021, the value of total interprovincial trade between Ontario and Manitoba stood at $19.5 billion, according to the release.