The Canadian Kitchen Cabinet Association is welcoming U.S. President Donald Trump’s postponement of tariff increases on furniture, cabinets and vanities, but the industry is still being devastated by the duties.
Trump hit the industry with 25 per cent tariffs in October but paused a promised increase of 30 per cent for furniture and 50 per cent for cabinets and vanities that was set to take effect this week.
Canadian Kitchen Cabinet Association vice-president Luke Elias says the levies have caused layoffs already.
He has said the federal government’s Buy Canadian procurement policy has helped, but more needs to be done.
The CKCA responded to the news of the tariff increase being paused in a press release.
“CKCA is pleased to see this announcement, however, a tariff of 25 per cent is still crippling to many businesses in our industry that rely on exporting their products to the U.S.,” the release said.
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“CKCA calls upon the Federal Government to continue with productive negotiations on behalf of our industry.”
Manitoba-based Elias Woodwork employs more than 400 people and exports around 80 per cent of its product to the United States.
Company president Ralph Fehr says that if the increased duties had taken effect this week, it would have been a catastrophe for the firm.
– With a file from Global’s Ari Rabinovitch
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