OCTOBER 25, 2025 • WESTMAN BUSINESS • THE BRANDON SUN
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Trade uncertainty characterizes business in 2025
Barry LaRocque, owner of Atom-Jet Group, inside the machine shop on Park Avenue. (Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun)
“You could definitely see the stress on the businesses,” she said. “That’s where we learned that it was the uncertainty more so that was causing the issues, ver- sus just the tariffs themselves. “Very hard to plan in a business when you don’t know what the next day will bring.” Not knowing what will come the next day makes businesses wary about taking a risk they otherwise would have, Ludwig said, such as expanding or trying new products. Certain sectors were hit with tariffs harder than others. American steel and aluminum tariffs sat at 50 per cent as of Oct. 7, and Chinese canola tariffs at 75.8 per cent. Those tariffs have affected the bot- tom-line, said Atom-Jet Group Owner and President Barry LaRocque. “We take a hit ourselves on the chin, and then we … take a little from our deal- er, and then ultimately there’s a little bit that comes off against our end users,” La- Rocque said. Most of the hit goes against Atom-Jet, he said, and that it’s a lot of cutting mar- gins. However, the tariffs didn’t hit as hard as the company was bracing for, La- Rocque said, and so the losses weren’t as bad as they could have been.
“We kind of prepared for the worst,” he said. “There’s no saving grace other than if you think about what’s going to hap- pen, or if it happens, everybody’s going to be in the same boat. “I think people are at a point now they’re saying, ‘OK, well, we’ve got to move ahead anyway.’” In the ag sector, high Chinese tariffs on canola haven’t had as much of an impact as people might think, said Delaney Ross Burtnack, executive director of the Mani- toba Canola Growers. Questions had already been circulat- ing for farmers before tariffs were put in place, though this made the situation even worse. “Just the uncertainty of the market, added stress where farmers don’t need more stress — it is already a challenge as a small business,” she said. “Depend- ing on the weather, depending on good prices that they have little control over. “The industry itself already has enough challenges without farmers not knowing whether they’re going to be able to sell their crop and at what price.” Selling crops is a bit of a challenge with marketing, and having a market that’s virtually shut down makes that a bigger challenge.
Threats and certain action on across- the-board tariffs from the United States starting in January, and high canola tar- iffs from China as well, the game plan has been ever-changing. “We started the year with the an- nouncement of tariffs, then counter tariffs, and then more tariffs,” said Jen- nifer Ludwig, president of the Brandon Chamber of Commerce. “It’s unfortu- nate, because that really is out of a busi- ness’s control.” A round-table held by the Chamber when tariffs first came into play illustrat- ed the concern people had.
BY ALEX LAMBERT U ncertainty is the word of the year for Westman businesses and organizations, with tariffs and American politics causing stress in 2025.
You could definitely see the stress on the businesses. That’s where we learned that it was the uncertainty more so that was causing the issues, versus just the tariffs themselves.”
– GERALD CATHCART CITY OF BRANDON’S ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OFFICER
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