No changes for Ontario truckers at U.S. border, but tariff threats leading to fewer shipments
Ontario Trucking Association says one third of its 500 members have laid off some employees as a result
An association representing Ontario's trucking industry says it's been business as usual at Canada-U.S. border crossings with regular wait times and inspections, but the constant back and forth with President Donald Trump's tariffs is leading to fewer shipment orders in both countries.
Although there's been little disruption for trucks going across the province's land borders with the U.S. in recent weeks, the impacts of Trump's threatened tariffs can quickly trickle down if and when they take full effect, said Marco Beghetto of the Ontario Trucking Association (OTA).
"We've been in communication with most of the Ontario-U.S. bridge authorities and we've been told shipping volumes and cross-border traffic flows have remained relatively steady over the last several weeks," he said.
"The tariffs are on again and off again, so we're still in that holding pattern but generally speaking, our members report that just the threat alone has led to an uptick of shipment cancellations from Canada to the U.S. and a little bit less so from the U.S. to Canada."
OTA represents approximately 500 members, including private carriers, for-hire carriers, intermodal companies, suppliers and other parts of the sector.
About one third of OTA members have already laid off some employees and others report they could get to that point if the tariff situation continues for too long, Beghetto said.
"Companies are reacting just to the threat and that is going to affect how much business our members have and how much business they can keep," he added.
On Wednesday, Trump put a 90-day pause on most global tariffs and the White House initially said the flip-flop would leave Canada with another 10 per cent baseline tariff, but later reversed course, meaning there are no new changes to tariffs on Canadian goods for now.
However, previously announced U.S. tariffs related to steel and aluminum, border security and fentanyl, critical minerals, energy and potash still remain in place, as do Canada's counter-tariffs on the American auto sector which took effect Wednesday.
Beghetto said truckers aren't affected by the swinging pendulum of tariff threats because it's the companies hiring them to ship across the border who would pay the duties. But an increase in cost of goods due to the levies could result in less demand for cross-border shipments, he added.
"It's a demand-driven industry but if the tariffs were fully implemented, the trickle down effect along the supply chain would absolutely impact the trucking company because of the reduction in demand going south of the border."
West Coast Transportation in London hauls dry goods and food products and on average, sends about eight trucks in and out the U.S. states per week, said operations manager Trevor Wideman.
His company isn't involved in any of the sectors that have been hit with tariffs so his business isn't directly impacted, but Wideman said demand for vegetables coming from states such as Florida has been much lower in what's typically a busy spring season as Canadian consumers shop local, which is a nod to how intertwined the two economies are.
"The volume of loads hasn't been anywhere close to what it was," he said. "The Canadian choices at grocery stores is affecting us a little bit in a negative way because we would be getting paid to haul these loads out of Florida but now the big companies are just not buying as much of it."
The last few weeks leading up to Trump's April 2 deadline of tariffs taking effect had customers shipping more goods than usual to get ahead of them, but added things have since calmed down, Wideman said.
"In the early days of the tariffs being threatened nobody knew what was going on so we had a couple of crazy busy weeks at the end of March where people were shipping lots of stuff in advance trying to get it across the border."
For now, trucking companies are taking a "wait and see" approach to how cross-border trade can change in coming months, Wideman and Beghetto said
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