The balance of power is shifting. Proposed tariffs between the U.S. and Canada could send an earthquake through the economy. Hard times might come for people on both sides of the border.
Americans will feel it. Canadians will feel it.
Consumers and businesses will both be affected.
I'm scared. But in times of crisis, there's no time for doom and gloom.
Many business owners ask, “who pays the tariffs?” This is a key question that impacts your bottom line and supply chain. However, rather than getting caught up in political debates, it’s essential to focus on strategies that protect your revenue and nurture customer relationships, so you can make it out alive on the other side.
I should know this. As a family we've survived the Great Recession, we've survived an entire pandemic, and we've survived four more years of sky-high inflation. In many cases, we've lived independent of politics.
If you're reading this, you're probably one of the small businesses we serve. I am a champion of small businesses. You ARE a driver of your local economy.
When you think about the raw supplies you buy to keep your shop going, at some point you'll realize the money you make trickles down through those suppliers…to their workers, and towards their families.
So, I urge you to shut down the fearmongering headlines for at least 8 minutes. And focus.
Let's face it -- these politicians are testing your resolve. How you come out of it will depend on how you respond.
Think about what COVID did to you in 2020. How did you pivot?
My intention is that, by reading this article, you should have some clarity on what to do.
What You're Going to Get In This Article:
- A recap of what's happening
- How to find if you're in an affected industry (and how badly you'll be hit)
- Real actions you can take to endure and survive the tariffs
What's happening?
Here's a recap of the events so far:
- In early February 2025, President Trump announced significant tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico and China in response to illegal immigration and the influx of fentanyl into the United States.
- Canadian energy imports into the U.S. would face a 10% tariff; all other goods imported from Canada face a 25% tariff.
- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced retaliatory measures, including tariffs on various U.S. goods including liquor, vegetables, clothing, shoes, and perfumes.
- On February 12, Trump countered by announcing that the U.S. will impose reciprocal tariffs on imports from outside countries, matching the tax rates of every exporting country.
What is the effect of the tariffs on your small business?
It comes down to this question: What industry are you in? Here is a list of the industries most and least likely to be affected.
Industries Most Likely to Be Affected by U.S. and Canadian Tariffs:
- Automotives: 85% of vehicles assembled in Canada are exported to the U.S., including the Honda Civic and Toyota RAV4. The 25% tariffs will directly affect these exports.
- Steel and Aluminum: The 25% tariff will directly affect steel and aluminum imports from Canada.
- Agriculture: Recall Canada's retaliatory tariffs you just read about above. The affected U.S. exports include live poultry, vegetables, coffee, tea, and sugar.
- Energy Sector: Many regions in the U.S., especially the Northeastern states, are dependent on Canadian energy exports. Canadian oil and electricity is about to be hit with the 10% tariffs.
- Consumer Goods: Canada's retaliatory tariffs also target U.S. consumer goods including household appliances, furniture, and sports equipment.
If you deal with these imported tangible goods, expect rising costs for both yourself and your customers.
Industries Less Likely to Be Affected by U.S. and Canadian Tariffs:
- Technology and Services: Sectors such as software development, financial services, law, accounting, and telecommunications are intangible services, not tangible goods. These are white-collar industries. They are less reliant on physical goods crossing borders. Therefore, they may experience minimal direct impact from the tariffs.
- Entertainment and Digital Media: The distribution of digital content within North America is generally not subject to tariffs, so this industry is expected to remain largely unaffected by the trade measures targeting physical goods.
- Healthcare Services: While medical equipment may be subject to tariffs, the delivery of healthcare services within each country is not directly affected by tariffs on cross-border trade in goods.
In summary, if you're in an industry that heavily involves cross-border trade of physical goods -- especially one with an integrated supply chain -- you are most likely to be affected by the proposed tariffs.
On the other hand, if you're focused on digital services, or selling products & services domestically, you are expected to experience less direct impact.
How do I handle the tariffs?
The short answer is simple. It comes from my family lineage, and it's the name (and subject) of a The Police song: When the world is running down, you make the best of what's still around.
The long answer to handling the tariffs is more nuanced. It involves managing your sourcing, pricing, and marketing. Here are some effective and inexpensive (or even no-cost) ways to do that:
1. Source Parts and Inventory from Local Suppliers
If you source physical inventory or parts from international suppliers, re-evaluate your supply chain. See if local alternatives can offer more stability amid these tariff changes. By doing so, you can mitigate cost increases and maintain your competitive edge.
2. Manage Pricing and Strategies
Assess how the tariffs are going to affect your pricing. There are ways to incorporate tariff costs into pricing without compromising customer value.
Depending what your product or service is, you can raise perceived value to the customer by adding additional deliverables to your offer. This is something we do all the time for clients: use conversion principles to drive more revenue. Below is a bullet list of examples that incorporate additional deliverables to boost perceived value and manage pricing:
• Manufacturing & Consumer Goods
- Bundle extended warranties or maintenance services.
- Example: “For only $50 more, secure a 2-year extended warranty.”
• Software & Digital Services
- Add premium support, on-demand training, or exclusive feature upgrades.
- Example: “Upgrade to our Pro package with 24/7 support and quarterly training.”
• Professional Services
- Include additional consultation hours or free follow-up sessions.
- Example: “Sign a 6-month commitment and receive a complimentary strategy session package.”
• Retail & E-commerce
- Offer loyalty rewards, bundled gift items, or free shipping with an extended return policy.
- Example: “Get free shipping plus a bonus gift on all orders over $100.”
• Hospitality
- Include add-ons like complimentary breakfast, late checkout, or amenity packages.
- Example: “Book our deluxe package and enjoy a free spa voucher.”
3. Be Proactive and Announce Price Changes
It’s also important to communicate openly with your customers about any potential price adjustments resulting from the tariffs.
Transparency builds trust and reinforces your reputation for reliability. When your customers understand the pressures behind rising costs, they’re more likely to stand by you.
4. Stay Away from Drama
Since 2017, my businesses have thrived by remaining in isolation from political battles. While I do believe in standing up for what you believe in, there's a fine line between activism and career suicide.
We’ve built strong customer relationships by focusing on quality, consistency, and service rather than engaging in political drama. Staying true to our mission has helped keep us afloat even during uncertain times.
5. Double Down on Customer Acquisition
When tariffs squeeze your profit margins, you know what to do? Generate new revenue. That, my friend, is the most effective solution.
By getting new customers and nurturing your existing base of customers, you generate additional revenue. This can help offset rising costs.
How much you need to do this depends on your current margins. If margins are tight, even slight gains in customer numbers may steadily improve your financial resilience.
The challenge is cost. I do always advise clients that getting customers is an investment with a return, not an expense. Nonetheless, we can't ignore the reality that people's wallets are going to get tight when the tariffs are implemented.
So, here are some low-cost ways to generate more revenue that we recommend:
Leverage Real Customer Reviews
Authentic feedback builds trust, reduces anxiety, and attracts more customers. Tariffs or not, they'll gladly pay you.
Read that again and pay attention to the first word -- "authentic".
Encourage your customers to share their experiences through follow-up emails or review platforms. You can get a review management system for around $200/month, like the one offered through our software company LeadsNtel. Before you pay, you can drive-test it.
This software sends review request sequences on autopilot. We personalize this sequence to your business and sales cycle. After all, every industry is different in terms of the timing of the transaction. These sequences go out to your existing list and/or every new customer that enters your pipeline.
For example, by doing exactly this, a real estate agent went from 3 Google reviews to 50+ within 2-3 months. Although he's been in business for 20 years and maintained tons of contacts, his public image didn't reflect it. You can imagine just how shocked he was to see the reviews trickle in out of nowhere!
This real estate agent also realized that some of his clients have done as many as 15 transactions with him. When people give you repeat business, they're most likely to give you the best feedback.
Why this generates additional revenue: For one, a big number of reviews can raise conversion rates. That is, more people who are already seeing your Maps listing will want to call you.
It also creates more signals on your Google Maps listing. Depending on the industry, Google can reward you with more visibility in local searches.
The more Maps visibility in your niche and locality, the more clicks you get, and the more phone calls or transactions you get = more revenue.
It doesn't have to be all 5-stars. We all have bad days! In general, the more reviews, the better. And all the studies show consistent results: your customers are more likely to trust an authentically imperfect rating, like 4.0 to 4.7, than a perfect 5-star rating.
Social Media and Content Marketing
Remind your customers of who you are by posting where they go most. Share success stories, case studies, and testimonials on social media.
Doing this lowers friction and anxiety about new costs. If your customers trust you enough, people will gladly ask you to take their money.
Email Marketing
While the tariffs loom, communicating with your customers will help to keep their attention on you.
Targeted email campaigns offer a direct line of communication with your audience. Use personalized messages to deliver timely offers and updates that resonate with each segment of your customer base.
Email automation tools, which typically cost between $20 and $100/month, help ensure your message is engaging and actionable.
Got writer's block? Combine the tool with an AI assistant like the Agency Intelligence AI SWAT Team to craft a sequence that's already based on decades of proven marketing campaigns.
Alternatively, you could write personalized letters by hand. One of our colleagues, the CEO of an 8-figure a year marketing and freelancing company, wrote personalized emails by hand to hundreds of customers, one by one. It's a huge time sacrifice and not for everyone. But if you're willing to put in the hours, it's well worth it.
Local SEO
Invest time in local SEO and community engagement to boost your visibility among nearby customers. Again…more clicks, more calls, more revenue.
Search engine optimization is our bread and butter. We've been doing it personally since 2010, and professionally since 2017. While there's normally an investment to SEO, there are 2 ways to see the potential before you make the investment:
- If you can make the optimizations yourself: Follow our basic on-page SEO guide step by step (coming soon)
- If you'd rather someone do it for you: Apply to get a free, complete optimization for one page on your site. The results will depend on the competition and your market. Having said that, we've seen as much as double to quadruple the impressions and traffic out of a single optimization using this approach.
Results ARE subject to search volatility and competition, so this gives you a chance to gauge how SEO will work for you before you make a full commitment. And when you do experience the results, you save on costs upfront!
Who Will Best Survive the Tariffs?
You will probably weather this best if:
- You make the most money on intangible services, OR your cost of goods won't rise enough to impact prices, OR
- You don't depend on "vote with your wallet" activism
Regardless, there are ways almost any industry can weather what's coming, and now you know what you can do about it.
Conclusion
The tariffs will test entrepreneurs' resolve. Re-read this article if you need to. I promise, even if it sparks one idea you can act on today, it will help you navigate the troubled waters ahead.
Focus, take action, and enjoy.
Alexander Vee, founder of Agency Intelligence (AI), Triple Agent Digital Media and Long Live The Hemp, is best known as a marketing consultant who helps Entrepreneurs & Professionals become positive agents of change—using his unique formula, “The ABC’s of Marketing.”
The young award-winning speaker & bestselling author has shared his message on the same stage as Martha Stewart and Ice-T & Coco at Carnegie Hall; on the same stage as Suzanne Somers & Caitlyn Jenner at the Harvard Club of Boston (where he made his public speaking debut at 19 years of age); at Nasdaq, Coca-Cola and Mercedes; and even at West Point, where his message to the leaders of America's future was: "If you're a 'best-kept secret', it's about as good as being bankrupt."
Alexander has been featured & quoted in ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, Telemundo, The CW, plus other news publications all over North America - something he also helps his friends & clients to achieve!
