International Trade committee  Good morning, Mr. Chair, and thank you for allowing Iafrate Machine Works to provide input into this study of how tariffs are affecting Canadian businesses and workers. First of all, we are one of the companies that were successful in their remission request. The topics I will

International Trade committee  We haven't got to the point of laying people off yet. That is a possibility. Like I've said, we've had a serious hit to our sales. The issue really is that we make what our customers need, and our customers are finding that we're too expensive now. They're basically looking at wh

International Trade committee  We are aware that companies are seriously considering hopping the border because that's a quick fix to solve their problem. You have to remember that we have millions of dollars of super expensive, high-technology equipment, like CNC machining lathes and mills. If it comes down t

International Trade committee  In our case, it's hard to isolate the impact on a product-by-product basis because some of our products are small enough that you can pick them up with one hand. Other products are so large you need an overhead crane. The steel impact ranges across the products also because we ha

International Trade committee  Our management put in 40 hours, between me, the president and the business development manager. It took 40 hours to get the application completed the way we thought they needed. There were still some follow-up meetings to clarify some things.

International Trade committee  Yes. We did. One of our products is in schedule 2, which means that exemption expires December 31. Tenaris has indicated they believe they can provide us with that. I guess time will tell. It's one thing to say you can get the product. It's another thing to say you get it at

International Trade committee  In our case because of remission we're okay now, but until that occurred, we would, yes.

International Trade committee  In our case, our concern is our big customer, because they're facing pressure on the section 232 side as well as the surtax side.

International Trade committee  Right. I can't speak for them, but you can be sure that, with the amount of money they have invested, they're going to have to seriously think about what they want to do.

International Trade committee  In our case, the remission has solved our problem, but the problem is that, when they ship into the States, some of the product that they make is being hit under the 232 duty. On the Canadian side of their business, they're impacted by foreign product that's not subject at all to

International Trade committee  Without question, yes.

International Trade committee  Good afternoon, Mr. Chair. Thank you for allowing Iafrate Machine Works to provide input into this study of federal support for the international trade activities of small and medium-sized firms. I will cover our experience in international trade under the existing NAFTA, the

International Trade committee  We know what our capabilities are, and our business is generated by quotes. We respond to quotes. We ended up getting a quote that we knew we could handle based on our capability, our experience and the accuracy that we operate in. The thing is that each generation of vehicles

International Trade committee  Our international trade is basically under NAFTA. We would love to have trade with Europe, with Asia. The issue is how we get into those markets, and if we get into those markets, how we make sure that our product doesn't rust on the way. That's a huge issue in our industry. Ou

International Trade committee  These components that we make aren't subject to rusting. They need to get to our customers' production line to be installed before they rust.