If there is a sector of the Canadian economy that is feeling the bite of the Trump Tariff regime, it’s manufacturing. Canada has skated through some of these difficult waters with protection from the CUSMA agreement but it has not been a total shield as some parts of the economy are still feeling the impact.
This is especially true of the automotive manufacturing sector where assemblers rely on steel and aluminum which still attract American tariffs plus Canadian retaliatory ones. And it is compounded by the fact that some components can cross the border more than once through the assembly process.
Although we don’t have much in the way of automotive manufacturing, factories in this part of the country are not totally immune either. Farm machinery makers face steel tariffs on products from the US but also the backlash of Chinese tariffs on canola hitting their farmer-customers.
The latest manufacturing numbers show Saskatchewan factory sales fell in June, down a little under one percent for the month but still almost five-percent ahead of where they were a year ago.
