Industry and Technology Committee on April 20th, 2026

[Catherine Blanchet]

Actually, it's 60%.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette—Manawan, QC]

Okay. That's a lot.

Before the order was issued in early April, what was the average tariff on the products you exported?

[Catherine Blanchet]

The answer is zero per cent.

In fact, there were no tariffs if we used American steel. There’s always a loophole in the system, and we all took advantage of it: we bought American steel. Even though American steel couldn’t supply everyone all the time, we managed to get some. It was becoming increasingly difficult, however, because there wasn’t enough for everyone. Furthermore, defence products took priority, which meant that all other products had to come second.

There was still always uncertainty. Every time a new customer called us, there were questions about tariffs. All that talk in the background, all that noise, also created a lot of uncertainty.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette—Manawan, QC]

Thank you.

For over a year now, we've managed to keep it at zero per cent by finding ways to do it. However, the uncertainty remained.

Now, since the executive order, as you understand it, the tariffs will be 10% even if we use American steel. Is that correct?

[Catherine Blanchet]

No, that's no longer the case.

Our products were tariffed at 50% of the cost of the steel used in the mould. Moulds can cost anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000. They are extremely valuable goods. Steel could make up a portion of the total, for example, 20%. Our moulds were therefore tariffed at 50% on steel, unless it was American steel.

However, today, tariffs are applied on the value of the mould—that is, to the $50,000 or $100,000. They amount to $15,000 if the mould is worth $100,000. There are no longer any loopholes in the system. There is no way to circumvent the rules.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette—Manawan, QC]

Okay, thank you.

So, the tariffs are 15%, because your products are classified as machinery or industrial equipment. This will remain the case until the end of 2027. After that, they will be 25%, according to the U.S. executive order.

Am I understanding this correctly?

[Catherine Blanchet]

Yes.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette—Manawan, QC]

It's really discouraging.

How did you learn about the changes made to the April 2 order, which took effect on April 6?

[Catherine Blanchet]

Since I serve on the board of directors of the Canadian Association of Moldmakers, or CAM, I was notified. A major mouldmaker in Windsor found out and called. Even the association’s board of directors didn’t know about it. It happened over the Easter break. On the Wednesday before Easter, word got out somewhere, and on Easter Monday, we received a call. It happened overnight. I found out because I sit on the CAM board of directors.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette—Manawan, QC]

Thank you very much.

Indeed, your association acted very quickly. From what I can tell, there are a lot of economic sectors and industries affected by this, and you were by far the first to step in and draw attention to it because the order affects you.

So far, the Government of Canada does not seem to be fully aware of the impact of these new tariffs, which, for the first time, no longer comply with the Canada–United States–Mexico Free Trade Agreement. In fact, the U.S. government had committed to and signed a treaty to adhere to agreed-upon rules, but then, indirectly, it ended up no longer respecting them. The Americans say it was to simplify the calculation, that it would have been too complicated to calculate the tariffs, which would go up to 15% and then to 25% on the entire product. By doing this, the effective tariffs skyrocketed. I’m a bit discouraged.

Do you think it’s possible to reach an agreement with the U.S. government to quickly abolish these tariffs?

[Catherine Blanchet]

You tell me. We are counting on Canadian diplomacy to result in an agreement.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette—Manawan, QC]

I don't see any encouraging signs.

As far as I can tell, this proclamation seems to contradict two previous proclamations. It doesn't comply with CUSMA. It imposes tariffs on the full finished product value, which conflicts with the proclamation imposing 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum. The effective rate is now much higher.

During Mr. Trump's first term, that tariff sparked legal challenges, and the U.S. stopped imposing it after CUSMA was ratified.

Are you in touch with your U.S. customers? How are they reacting? Are they planning to take the U.S. administration to court in response to the latest proclamation?

[Catherine Blanchet]

It depends on the customer. I haven't spoken to all of them. We're a small business, so we can't be everywhere at once.

I can't answer that right now.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette—Manawan, QC]

All right. Thank you.

I'll have more questions in the next round.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ben Carr]

Thank you, Mr. Ste‑Marie.

Mr. Lewis, the floor is yours for five minutes.

[Chris Lewis, Conservative, Essex, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to all the witnesses. I know that you're all wildly busy just trying to keep your companies afloat. The very fact that you're here means a lot to this committee. It's very important.

Mr. Vander Park, I love the tag line of “make things that make things”. It's a brilliant tag line. As a committee here, we're trying to fix the things that make things that make things.

In your opening testimony, you said that you haven't changed a quote. Therefore, you are stuck with everything you dealt with a year ago. Either you deliver that tool, whatever that tool is, or you keep it on your shop floor. I can't even imagine how many man-hours, maybe up to 1,500 man-hours, for one tool. Consequently, you just never ship it and you don't get paid. Obviously, the majority of the companies where you ship to in Michigan wouldn't get paid.

I understand you do much more than just automotive. I'd like to really break this down for the committee. I understand you had one tool with about 1,500 man-hours that you were going to sell for $244,000, roughly. You were going to pay tariffs of $1,500 U.S. on this tool. Subsequent to the section 232 tariffs that came down, it's now around $36,000 on one tool.

Is that a fair statement, sir?

[Chris Vander Park]

That is an exact statement.

[Chris Lewis, Conservative, Essex, ON]

Is that the reality today—because this is maybe a couple of weeks old? Is there something new you'd like to share with committee?

[Chris Vander Park]

Sure, that was the first one. If we would have shipped that tool on Good Friday or the Thursday before, it would have been $1,500 and no conversation. On the Monday, the tool was still sitting on our floor. Today, it has not shipped.

Since then, obviously, we have had other projects. Today, I have a full-time tariff girl now, which we didn't have before. She sent me four tools that our customer asked to ship this week, which we negotiated last May. We said we would absorb all tariffs—this is how we got this—based on what the rules were in May. We expected, based on the steel tariff that went in on August 18, there would be a $25,375 tariff on these four tools. That tariff, if we were to ship them leaving today, is now $130,347.

[Chris Lewis, Conservative, Essex, ON]

Okay. Thank you.

[Chris Vander Park]

Can I just add to that?

[Chris Lewis, Conservative, Essex, ON]

Please do.

[Chris Vander Park]

My owner, as I was talking to him on the phone today, said, “Chris, I don't know what to do. We negotiated in good faith with a very good customer we've had for a long time and said we would take the tariffs.” He said, “Do I ship the tools, pay the tariff and he's not going to give us any more work? Do I keep the tools, make him pay the tariffs and he's not going to send us any more work? I don't know what to do.”

[Chris Lewis, Conservative, Essex, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Vander Park.

Those numbers are mind-boggling and scary as heck. My heart bleeds for the industry, but for you specifically.

Ms. Ricci Woodiwiss, as somebody in finance with the same company, how do you keep the company afloat? What are you doing? What's your magic to even navigate through this mess?

[Diane Ricci Woodiwiss]

I have to work very closely with our program management team and our sales team, because, unfortunately, in order for us to survive, these tariffs have to be paid by our customers. We have to send them off to them. Right now, we're talking to customers. We're working out payment terms. Unfortunately, it looks like we have to make the first payment and, hopefully, the customer will reimburse us later on.

Like I said earlier, it does take a toll on us, because we have to stop any reinvestment within the company because we have to conserve cash.