‘We really hope for it to stop’

Aaron Brown stopped ordering guitars from his Quebec supplier when tariffs became a looming threat in the United States.

Then he watched as US$12,000 worth of instruments didn’t make it to Town Center Music, his store in Suwanee, Ga., in time for back-to-school shopping. It was August, there was a slew of new U.S.-based tariffs and shipping companies were confused.

As such, the beginner guitars — bought offshore for decades — sat in their home countries.

Now Brown is eyeing an “existential threat” to U.S. music instrument retailers as tariffs drive up prices and cool customer spending. He clocked a 24 per cent year-over-year sales drop in October.

“It’s a really uncertain time,” Brown said. “Lots of us in the U.S. are just not behind any of this.

“We look at this with the same skepticism and, at times, disdain. We feel that it’s unnecessary and, boy, would we really hope for it to stop.”

Brown has joined We Pay the Tariffs, a coalition of more than 800 American small businesses advocating for the removal of tariffs enacted since U.S. President Donald Trump took office.

The American call is being applauded by Manitoba’s private sector.

On Monday, We Pay the Tariffs shared data showing average tariffs on popular holiday presents in the United States. Musical instruments, for example, faced a 20.8 per cent tariff in August, up from six per cent the year prior.

During the year ending in August, American companies paid US$157 million in tariffs on musical instruments. The data, from economic research firm Trade Partnership Worldwide, showed a total US$84 million paid during the prior year.

We Pay the Tariffs has penned an open letter to lawmakers and held a news conference to push its message.

“Lots of us in the U.S. are just not behind any of this.”

“The more people who speak up about it, the better,” said Tyson Lavallee, manager of Mar-Schell’s Music on Henderson Highway in Winnipeg.

He’s selling guitar amps, strings, drum kits — basically anything in the store — at a five to 10 per cent markup from this time last year. Lavallee believes companies are spreading their tariff costs across all customers instead of directing a larger fee to United States clients.

The U.S. imposed tariffs on roughly 90 countries earlier this year and has been hit with levies in response.

Mar-Schell’s Music doesn’t have much choice in pricing, Lavallee noted: retailers sell items at prices set by manufacturers.

“There’s already increasing inflation,” Lavallee said. “It’s really forced people to be more informed, research more, find their best prices.”

Local businesses compete with online platforms like Amazon Inc., making business more difficult, Lavallee added. He’s hoping for a reversal of the year’s tariffs.

“There isn’t necessarily that receptive ear in American political discussions today to (challenge) your idea of ‘What is truth?’” said Loren Remillard, president of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce.

“Recognizing the challenges of these kinds of conversations, we’re therefore pleased that American business is stepping up in a big way.”

The small businesses in “Main Street America” are where elections are won and lost, Remillard added.

One We Pay the Tariffs member — a 64-year-old toy store owner from New York — said Monday she has no hope of retiring and considers her business hard to sell given the erratic supply chain. Joann Cartiglia said she’s taken out loans with “mafia rates” to finance tariffs costs.

“We knew right from the beginning that the tariffs were really a lose-lose situation.”

The Trump administration has shifted some of its policies: in November, it rolled back levies on food products like beef and coffee amid pressure from Americans.

It’s not surprising U.S.-based companies are speaking out, the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce president said.

“We knew right from the beginning that the tariffs were really a lose-lose situation,” Chuck Davidson said, adding many Manitoba businesses are adapting.

A steel mill in Selkirk has shifted operations to keep all 550 staff on the payroll, said Mayor Larry Johannson. He and Manitoba Municipal Relations Minister Glen Simard met with the Gerdau mill’s leadership in recent weeks.

“They don’t foresee any layoffs at the mill,” Johansson said. “A lot of the things that they’ve been doing, they’ve been doing it strategically.”

Canadian steel is hit with a 50 per cent tariff in the United States. Gerdau has reintroduced production of rebar steel — a type it had previously moved away from — and it’s been “really good for them,” Johansson said. (Gerdau has previously declined to speak to media.)

Johansson said he briefly spoke with Prime Minister Mark Carney, who visited Winnipeg for the 2025 Grey Cup game, about using Selkirk steel in every major Canadian project needing the material. A Port of Churchill revitalization would also “bode well” for Gerdau, Johansson noted: Selkirk steel could be used in the buildout and shipped to Europe through the port.

Evolution Wheel exports 85 per cent of its tires to the United States. The company has been growing, said owner Derek Hird, by continuing to use American steel like it had pre-trade war.

“If you want to have a good relationship with our U.S. counterpart … then we need to be speaking positively and having a conversation,” Hird said. “Any other strategy of diversifying from the U.S. is a pipe dream, because those supply chains and those sales and those markets take years to build and more money than … companies have.”

American businesses are paying an average 22.5 per cent tariff on playing cards, dice and board games as of August — up from a zero per cent tariff in August 2024, We Pay the Tariffs shared. It highlighted a 22.3 per cent average tariff on toys. U.S. companies paid US$1.2 billion in toy-related tariffs in the year ending in August, the data show.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com