CFIB: trade war puts 53,112 Canadian small businesses at risk

TORONTO — The Canadian Federation of Independent Business estimates 53,112 small businesses are directly hit by U.S. tariffs, Canadian counter-tariffs, or both — and says existing federal supports still leave about half the small-business community outside the programs.

Of that total, 13,160 are exporters and 45,414 are importers. CFIB executive vice-president of advocacy Corinne Pohlmann said counter-tariffs have a broader footprint than the U.S. levies themselves, and that this week’s signal of outright U.S. bans on some Canadian goods at month-end sharpens the urgency. “Programs that only help a few thousand businesses are unacceptable when tens of thousands need support,” she said.

CFIB wants three fixes: a Small Business Tariff Relief program paying up to $70,000 to firms that can show they paid or absorbed tariffs; an SME desk to speed remissions of Canadian retaliatory tariffs when substitutes are scarce; and an immediate small-business tax cut from 9% to 6% (retroactive to Jan. 1, 2026), plus lifting the Small Business Deduction threshold from $500,000 to $700,000 with inflation indexation.

Regional Tariff Response thresholds have been cut to $1 million in revenue — still too high for many shops, Pohlmann said. For households, the inflation channel is straightforward: importers absorbing duties or scrambling for non-U.S. supply pass costs into shelves, while exporters facing bans lose volume that once underwrote payroll and prices at home.