A Surrey-based business is expecting Canadian companies to change how they trade — and who they trade with — as tariffs initiated by U.S. President Donald Trump persist.

The cross-border tariff conflict has many local, provincial and national businesses concerned, and looking at how they might want to change current trade strategies, noted South Surrey-based PCB Global Trade Management president and CEO Greg Timm.  

His company, which has been since the trade war started, handles a lot more than trade management, he said, including trade advisory services, "which is quite pertinent now in the crazy trade world we’re living."

"Our expertise is goods entering Canada or Surrey/Canadian companies or Canadian goods entering the U.S. We help them sell into the U.S. market — we help mostly Canadian companies import into Canada at the most optimized duty rates, the most optimized fees, and then we also engage with all of the other 192 countries in our network, so we can help a company ship to or from Europe or South America or Asia," Timm explained.

"We think that what’s happening here is Canadians have had a bit of a shake-up, a bit of a jolt, and they’re going to start to diversify where they sell and to which countries they sell and from where they buy ... so if you used to buy your oranges out of Florida, you might try to buy them out of Japan (or) Korea (or) China now, that sort of thing."

Canadian clients have now started getting into the nitty-gritty of what the tariffs mean and how they might need to adjust or change their business, he said. 

"When these duties first dropped ... when we were getting some of the incendiary comments from the White House, I think all of Canada felt a sense of betrayal, almost disbelief ... it felt like the first eight weeks of COVID, everything was weird," Timm said.

"Now Canadians are starting to get into the details of what actually things will cost them. Some items coming into Canada now have duty applied to them from the Canadian government, so (Canadian businesses are) starting to understand (how) it affects them — if they can change their supply chain, if they can purchase somewhere else, or maybe they don’t need the product they were buying before."

Timm recalled times in the past when the borders and markets were uncertain and said he remains confident in Canadian business owners.

"It’s been our experience here through COVID time, through the Great Recession of 2008, probably through the 9/11 time when all the borders were closed … Canadian companies are quite resourceful," Timm said. "It takes a little bit of time to shift and a little time to find their way."

The Canadian brand label is honoured overseas, he continued, as Canada is "a country that I think other nations and companies are happy to do business with because generally speaking, Canadians honour their word. They’re trustworthy, and we produce a lot of things that the world needs."

"We have relied on the big American market because it’s 10 times the size of Canada and it’s close. But I don’t think we need to solely rely on it, so we can look elsewhere ... of course, Canada is a resource powerhouse in the world, from the minerals we pull out of the ground to the food we produce ... the agricultural products and oil and natural gas, and rare earth minerals — the world needs what we have, so we will be able to turn our attention to other countries should (the trade war) not get resolved with the U.S.A.," said Timm. "I foresee that Canadians are going to diversify a little bit."

If anything, the tariffs have highlighted that much of what Canada sells goes to the U.S., he noted.

"I think Canadians have had a wake-up call to say, 'OK let’s not rely so exclusively on one market' ... 72 per cent of what Canada sells goes to the U.S.A., well, let’s try to diversify that a little bit and set our own pathway forward."

Canada has nearly 50 free trade agreements signed with other countries such as China and Israel, and has a great trade agreement with the European Union, and is also a part of the Trans Pacific Partnership and the World Trade Organization, Timm continued. 

One of the best things Canadian companies can do is really know their own products, first, he said.

"Member countries of the WTO, which is 162 nations — they all conform to what’s called a harmonized tariff system. That means that every product known to humankind has a six-digit number attached to it, and then each country can put their own statistical extension on that six digits. It’s in the company’s best interest to do a full tariff review to make sure their products are properly classified," he said, as a wrong tariff number could end up costing a company hundreds of thousands of dollars or more. 

There are also several tariff relief programs that offer options for how companies can get around the duties and tariffs, he added, but noted it's a complicated process and requires proper knowledge to get the best results.

"There’s ways of doing it. The Canadian government obviously has to make some priorities on who gets the money that we’re collecting — who gets this back, which industries, which areas, but that's a conversation that is likely in suspension until after federal election," he said.