So looks like widespread tariffs will be imposed on Feb 4. As a Canadian, this will pretty much instantly spark a recession here, and will spark retaliatory tariffs that will dramatically increase cost of everything from the US, which is a ton of cycling products. There is also an emerging push for all Canadians to avoid purchasing all American products, which I personally will be trying as much as possible.
Specific things I plan on doing: avoiding any American products in favor of Canadian alternatives (eg: 7mesh instead of rapha), cancelling any trip to US (was planning on doing high cascade 100), and only using Canadian retailers. I’m also strongly considering cancelling my trainerroad subscription; I am EXTREMELY reluctant to do this, but picking and choosing the American products based on preference undermines the whole exercise.
Any other choices or recommendations my fellow Canadians (and Mexican friends) can think of? Any important non-American alternatives to common cycling products people can recommend?
**I don’t want this to spark a debate on the merits or politics of this situation. It is going to be absolutely devastating here. But it’s a reality, and just looking for advice on how to adapt and make realistic choices.
But why send any money to the US right now when they are acting hostile to Canada and actively trying to harm its economy? I’m rethinking my spending habits too, although TR isn’t something I’m considering dropping since my subscription money is not going to line the pockets of billionaire oligarchs (unless I’ve severely misjudged how much Nate & team are raking in from the podcast).
Rapha is not owned by Walmart. It’s owned by two grandsons of Walton. I don’t like what Walmart did to small businesses and towns across America either, but punishing the man’s grandchildren for investing the money he gave them into advancing the cycling community makes no sense to me (not talking about the tariffs, just in general)
I would be extremely surprised if Canada didn’t impose tariffs. There’s no scenario where that would actually happen. How much and on what is the question, not an if. But we’ll know shortly anyway. In the end, we’ll pay more
Yeah I’m unfortunately of the same mind. With the lack of stated US goals for these tariffs and recent statements about annexing Canada, I’m left interpreting them as an attempt at economic warfare. I am unfortunately being literal here and (while not a majority opinion) this is not an uncommon opinion amongst my social groups.
I like TrainerRoad and have used it for a long time, but I will be reviewing US spending if they go through very closely as I do not want to support a foreign country that is being hostile towards my existence. I would also be cutting spending in general given the expected economic impacts of them.
I’m not sure if the average American understands what they’ve gotten themselves into here, and that is unfortunate. But frankly, that is not my problem.
Yeah I’m sure that with all the other things happening in the US, the tariff news is a bit lost in the shuffle. It is the #1 story in Canada and everyone is absolutely outraged and feels completely betrayed. I guess the one positive is it seems to be unifying the country in a way I haven’t seen in a long time.
If not for the airplane crash in Washington, it would definitely be the number 1 story in the US. We see it as hurting us though, as it’s just going to raise prices on everything in the US from oil to vehicles to electronics to alcohol, meat, fruit, and veg.
I don’t see it changing my habits. Most of the goods come from China anyways. The ship sailed on getting stuff from the US when the CDN dollar took a dive. It’s now around $1.45 CDN to the USD so prices would have to be incredible to be worth it. Secondly, for whatever reason shipping has never been affordable for the most part. I could get free or low cost (air) shipping from UK or Europe but putting something in the mail or a truck from the US was always insane and most retailers won’t ship by the least expensive option USPS.
This depends on which segments you are talking about. Canada and Mexico are in our Top 3 trade partners and are critically important to the US. In terms of consumer goods, yes, China is the largest trade partner.
However, Canada is a vital trade partner for oil and timber. More importantly, the type of crude that Canada produces is easier to refine than that produced by the US, so it is preferred over US crude. And the price of oil is the lynchpin to almost everything else.
I am avoiding political commentary here and simply focusing on facts. A trade war with Canada and Mexico will likely be catastrophic to all countries involved. If you look at the one stabilizing force since WWII, it has been global trade. Trade wars benefit no one.
I agree, I was trying to stay on topic specific to “cycling products”. The overwhelming majority of cycling products come from Asia and therefore are not going to be affected by US tariffs.
There is a long list of items from trivial to strategic that will be affected. Oil, natural gas and timber along with auto get talked about but the one thing that is often overlooked is aluminum.
Feeling pretty happy about buying a Spanish bike (Orbea) last week instead of the Santa Cruz I was looking at. If the economy doesn’t completely tank, our vacations for the next four years will not be to the States. And I’ll be paying much closer attention to the provenance of fruits and vegetables.
But I also think there is basically nothing the average person can do in this situation. This isn’t about bikes and avocadoes, it’s about steel and oil and hegemony. I hope we can find a way to bond with Europe as way out of this toxic relationship.
I see lots of posts on “good we don’t need you” but tourism from Canada is a 30B business. Vegas, Disney and Hilton may not feel it too much but there are literally thousands of ma and pa businesses from trinket shops, restaurants, and B&Bs that absolutely depend on Canadian tourists.
The thing about tourism is that the overhead is so high that even a small percentage drop in visitors can be a big problem. So places like Disneyland and Las Vegas, which get a lot of Canadian visitors, might actually feel the pinch too.
