Matt Johnston has spent the better part of the last 30 days preparing for U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest tariff threat.
Johnston, the CEO of Collective Arts Brewing in Hamilton, said the beer he ships to 10 U.S. states makes up about 20 per cent of his business.
If Trump follows through on his threats starting Wednesday, those same lagers and ales will face a 50 per cent tariff — something, Johnston said, he simply can’t manage.
“It would just essentially make it not viable to sell those products made in Canada down into the U.S.,” he said. “There’s no way to absorb or pass on those cost increases.”
When Trump announced the tariff in July, they were a direct response to the decision from most provincial liquor control boards to pull American products from their shelves.
The White House argued that was discriminatory and had cost U.S. firms $600 million in sales. Prime Minister Mark Carney spoke directly with Trump on Monday, but there were no deals as of Tuesday afternoon.
Even with the potential hit coming to his business, Johnston doesn’t think the government should cave to Trump’s demands.
“You don’t win against a bully by backing down and providing constant concessions because they’ll just keep coming back looking for more,” he said.
Johnston said his U.S. customers have wanted to work with him, and Collective Arts sent product to the U.S. in advance, but beer has a shelf life and they can only ship so much before tariffs kick in.
Johnston said they have also looked at brewing some of their beer at facilities in the U.S., which is not something they want to do, but tariffs may give them little choice.
“At this point, with a 50 per cent tariff, you either walk away from a business you spent years establishing, or you look at some short-term production while all the trade negotiations go on,” he said.
Collective Arts also makes non alcoholic beverages, including wellness products and energy drinks — a market Johnston hopes to expand in Canada and internationally. Right now, he believes the company can pivot to new markets and avoid layoffs.
He’s hopeful Canadians vote with their wallets
“There’s 125-plus of us and we’re stubborn and we will continue to look for different avenues to grow.”
He said he is hopeful Canadians will vote with their wallets and help companies like his weather the storm.
“We need Canadians to rally behind Canadian owned businesses, not just products made here, but really rally behind Canadian owned businesses,” he said. “If we all lean in then that really takes the power away from Donald Trump.”
Some Canadian businesses, however, fear any new tariffs would place their operations in jeopardy and are urging Carney to strike a deal with the Trump administration — even if it’s a bad one.
Richard Martin, CEO of Dynamo Playgrounds, which sells playground equipment made mainly of steel and aluminum, says the company has already lost nearly four-fifths of its U.S. business since Trump imposed tariffs on the two metals in 2025, including on goods covered by the Canada-U.S.-Mexico-Agreement on trade.
This puts his company’s survival on the line, with 80 per cent of its sales coming from the U.S.
“We need our prime minister to get to the damn table and negotiate something,” Martin said. “He needs to understand that a no-deal has been hurting us even more.”
Dynamo Playgrounds has downsized to 16 employees from 63 over the past few years, and Martin worries that the 50 per cent tariffs would be the death blow to his business.
Pivoting to other markets would mean investing millions to meet different standards, money Martin said he does not have.
Amit Thakkar, owner of Roopa Knitting Mills in Brampton, and two other clothing businesses, said he is struggling to sleep at night, fearing for the livelihood of his 120 employees.
Between 50 and 70 per cent of his sales, Thakkar said, are destined for the U.S., and he fears the new tariffs, which cover everything from T-shirts and sweaters to textile materials, would devastate his business.
It is difficult to pivot back to the Canadian market, as most clothing, even Canadian brands, is manufactured abroad, he explained.
‘Our plan is to pray and hope that they make a deal’
“I’m biased because I’m not in industries like auto and dairy, but I definitely think Canada should do anything it can to get a deal,” Thakkar said. “No deal means my business and my family and all my employees and their families shut down.”
The last thing Thakkar wants to see is the family business his father built from scratch in 1991 go bust.
“We don’t know what to do,” he said. “Our plan is to pray and hope that they make a deal.”
