Trump Tarrifs Could Boost Canadian Warehouse Business

“Let’s say company X is buying sunglasses from China, and the current duty rates in the U.S. – let’s just make it up for arguments sake – is 20%,” said Steven Page, president of Ontario-based Stalco Inc., which has had an uptick in client interest in shipping through Canada.

“So company X goes out and buys $1 million worth of sunglasses. That shipment, when it arrives in the U.S., would be hit by that hypothetical 20% duty on the $1 million. But under our methodology, that container would come to Canada, and even if it incurs a duty, once we demonstrated to the Canadian government that we’ve exported the inventory that came into the country, they will refund the duty.

“The beauty of the scenario is this: Let’s say company X is using a third-party fulfilment centre in the United States. Stalco is a fulfilment centre; we make our money by providing fulfilment services. In the instance of this scenario, we are simply charging fulfilment services to the client.… The entire duty saving is money in their pockets.”