By Sonal Gupta, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada’s National Observer
August 30, 2026
New federal funding announced Friday for a dozen Metro Vancouver businesses comes as many manufacturers face a double squeeze: US tariffs are cutting into sales south of the border, while low-priced imports are making it harder to compete at home.
“The other shoe has finally dropped,” said Jen Riley, president and CEO of the BC Chamber of Commerce. Riley, whose network represents 85 business communities and approximately 35,000 businesses, said the tariffs affect roughly 14 per cent of BC’s exports to the US. She said forestry — particularly value-added wood products — was the province’s most exposed sector, with auto, aluminum and steel also under pressure.
A Langley-based aluminum manufacturer, Apex previously made 40 to 50 per cent of its sales in the US, Darren McQueen, the company’s chief financial officer, told Canada’s National Observer. The company is among the 12 Metro Vancouver businesses receiving federal funding announced by Gregor Robertson, the federal minister of housing and infrastructure and minister responsible for Pacific Economic Development Canada. Apex received $947,000 to develop new products and focus more heavily on Canadian customers.
But McQueen said Apex is also competing with low-priced aluminum imports from China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and Turkey. Imports from these “non-market economies” have risen by more than 40 per cent this year. Producers shut out of the US market are looking for buyers elsewhere and turn to Canada because it has fewer measures blocking low-priced imports. Invoices and quotes shared by customers show some finished products arriving in Canada were priced 38 to 45 per cent below Apex’s prices, he said.
“It’s one thing to lose access to the US market,” McQueen said. “It’s another thing to lose access to the Canadian market.”
Richmond Plywood is facing a similar squeeze. Eight trucks carrying plywood were scheduled to cross last Friday, but the company pulled them back after the US announced a 50 per cent tariff on Canadian goods, said Bhavjit Thandi, the company’s chief financial officer. The company has since cut one production day a week — three shifts at a mill that operates around the clock — leaving workers with roughly four fewer paid days each month.
Its US sales, which accounted for about 20 per cent of its business, involved higher-end products, such as marine-grade plywood and concrete-form panels, which Thandi described as some of the company’s best products. He said the products are difficult to redirect to other markets because lower-cost competitors from China and Vietnam make Canadian plywood uncompetitive.
Richmond Plywood is now working alongside companies it normally competes with, Thandi said, noting eight or nine BC mills have joined the BC Plywood and Veneer Manufacturers Coalition to press provincial and federal governments for a coordinated response to the tariffs.
The group is calling for publicly funded projects to prioritize Canadian-made plywood and for the government to crack down on cheaper Chinese imports that may lack proper grading, certification and engineering documents. “The Canadian producers can’t compete with that stuff,” Thandi said.
The federal government now has a Buy Canadian policy aimed at creating domestic demand through public spending and is working with provinces to encourage similar approaches on public projects, Robertson told Canada’s National Observer. He pointed to a Toronto transit project where most streetcars for the city’s public transit system are being manufactured in Ontario and Quebec, calling it a shift from past procurement practices.
Robertson said federal departments, Crown corporations and agencies now have criteria intended to maximize the use of Canadian materials and workers.
“We haven’t had this historically,” he said. “We are investing in ourselves, and we’re now very focused on making sure that we are supporting Canadian businesses, workers and materials in all these major projects.”
Support gap
The federal government has announced a $7.5-billion package that includes funding for tariff-hit businesses to manage cash-flow pressures, buy equipment and find new markets, along with temporary EI changes for workers facing reduced hours or job losses.
Thandi said Richmond Plywood received about $1 million through the Regional Tariff Response Initiative, a federal program that helped fund equipment. He said the federal support has been valuable, but cannot replace the company’s lost US sales.
“We don’t want to put our workers on EI, and we don’t want to take out loans when we don’t have a stable market to sell into,” he said.
But some of the province’s smallest businesses may be left on the sidelines. Applicants to the Regional Tariff Response Initiative generally need between 10 and 499 full-time employees and at least $1 million in annual revenue, Riley said.
She pointed to a Lower Mainland company with fewer than five employees that had accepted $100,000 in US pre-orders and may now have to fulfil them at a loss after absorbing the 50 per cent tariff, while a small shampoo and conditioner company moved two months of inventory into the United States to buy itself a little time.
“Uncertainty provides an environment that is hard to invest in,” she said.
Derek Hardy, who runs North Vancouver’s Buckshee Woodshop alone, has suspended all American orders since the latest tariffs began affecting his furniture. More than half of his online sales came from the US before the April 2025 “Liberation Day” tariffs. He is now focusing on Canadian customers and working with local interior designers.
“It’s tough because a lot of my business came from the US. I love the fact that a stool I made here could end up in a random living room in New Jersey or California,” Hardy said.
Robertson said the federal government is looking for ways to make its programs easier to access by streamlining applications and reducing barriers, while keeping the necessary checks to ensure public money is spent responsibly.
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“We want to make sure we’re not missing businesses that aren’t making it through this tough time without that support,” he said. Sonal Gupta / Local Journalism Initiative / Canada’s National Observer.
