A signature policy of Donald Trump’s second presidency has been the enaction – and threat – of tariffs on goods coming into the United States, with these protective tariffs intending to support competing domestic goods by increasing the cost of imports through a tax added onto imported goods.

Trump first suggested that he would issue an Executive Order to impose a 25% tariff on Canadian and Mexican goods in November, as a retaliation due to what he cited as inadequate border controls.

In the following months, Trump also used the U.S. trade deficit with Canada as a justification for the tariffs, describing the deficit as a subsidy, with the U.S. President also beginning to speak of his desire to absorb Canada into the United States around this time. In February, then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced retaliatory 25% tariffs on imports from the United States.

With tariffs being announced and delayed several times in 2025 so far, the situation has been marked by rapid change and unpredictably, but as of early April many of the tariffs are in effect.

The new(est) normal

The direct impact of these tariffs on the Canadian crane sector are only starting to be felt, according to the crane business owners who spoke with Crane & Hoist Canada.

“The thing we’ve noticed a big difference on is with certain customers,” said Tristan Felbert, CEO of Toronto-based JT Crane and Rigging. “We had certain layaways – cranes locked up on site – that have been cancelled because of when that tariff came into effect and purchase orders were signed for steel jobs.”

“We got shut down on a couple of sites that aren’t going to continue,” he said of the impact, sharing that his company has lost at least three projects and has had to lay off a few of their employees stemming from reasons he attributes to the ongoing trade issues.

Felbert said that material orders from distribution plants have also slowed down since the tariff issues arose. The company also performs work with the HVAC sector, and while Felbert had not seen impacts on that side of their business at the time of his statements, he expects they will come soon, and could also very easily see these tariffs impacting the availability of parts.

“Let’s say one of the manufacturer crane companies have a certain holding valve or something that has to come up from the States – the price is going to be significantly higher,” said Felbert. “But I also anticipate there would be a delay. I haven’t personally run into that just because – knock on wood – we’ve been lucky. Everything we’ve needed so far has just been on the shelf. But if it’s going to be cross-border, I’m sure it’s going to be a headache.”

Felbert also noted that crane sourcing itself is likely to become more expensive: while many of the big crane OEMs such as Liebherr are based in Europe, their North American branches are often set in the U.S. as it is a bigger market, meaning even cranes from European manufacturers could end up routed through the U.S. and thus subject to tariffs.

Felbert was not optimistic when it came to the possibility of any affected Europeam companies looking to establish new routes into Canada to avoid these tariffs: “I would say no, because Canadians will just pay for it anyway, right?” he said. “If you need it, we’re going to get it.”

Working together

“We’ve been very lucky, because most of the customers we deal with are large utilities,” said John Ludorf, operations manager for B.C.-based CRANeIUM. “All the utilities in Western Canada they understand, and the same with the big mines and whatnot that we work with. We deal primarily with critical cranes, and they understand that it’s nobody’s fault and we’ll do what we can. It doesn’t seem to be affecting the jobs that we do because infrastructure needs to keep going. They can’t stop what they’re doing, they just keep going.”

Ludorf is taking effort to ensure his company’s clients understand they won’t be taken advantage of due to the tariffs, often walking them through their invoices. He speculated that they may have to increase costs if the business’ profitability is affected.

“Unfortunately, we may have to rework margins if that’s the case, but most of our customers are a little less concerned with that than getting the crane back up and running, that’s the main concern,” he said. “We’re fortunate in our business, we don’t have that uncertainty, we’re not dealing with small mom and pop shops where the tariffs would affect them a lot more.”

In May, Ontario-based distributor CanLift announced they were investing $10 million into their company in a partnership with JLG Industries, which would be used to add more than 70 new units to their fleet including ultra booms, compact and rotating telehandlers, and features such as JLG’s ClearSky Smart Fleet.

While the negotiations for that partnership pre-date the tariffs, CanLift’s promotional materials mention that as the uncertainty slows down planning cycles and causes project delays, this investment shows Canadian companies stepping up to keep the lifts moving.

“In the last couple of years, there’s been supply chain issues and stuff like that post-COVID,” said CanLift managing partner Johnny Dragicevic. “Construction has been soft in general for the last year and a bit, and now we’re waiting for the rebound, especially with these new housing initiatives and others. We’ll have equipment on the ground and already deployed once that switch has been flipped.”

Dragicevic said that, to date, there have not been many direct impacts on CanLift’s business, but he noted an effect on the economy as a whole, and the construction sector in particular. Purchasing construction equipment and materials from the United States used to be a given and a relatively easy process – now, he sees it beset by uncertainty.

“It’s impacting their current projects and tenders that they won prior,” said Dragicevic. “A lot of things haven’t been shelved, but they’ve definitely been delayed until there’s more certainty in the market in general.”

As such, CanLift is keeping an eye on “what is happening on a macro scale,” ensuring they are maintaining good relationships with OEMs.

Those businesses are often multi-billion dollar entities with a staff full of industry analysts, so they can be a good source for information, he said.

“We’re saying, ‘hey, what are you guys hearing?’” said Dragicevic. “No one’s got a crystal ball here, but if you guys are hearing something, maybe keep us in the loop and help us make more educated decisions on future asset purchases and stuff like that.”
Standing up for Canada

The Canadian Construction Association (CCA) also weighed in on this topic: in a press release from March, the association described the invocation of tariffs as a short-sighted and irresponsible decision with consequences for both countries.

“The Canadian and American construction industries rely heavily on free-flowing supplies of essential construction materials,” CCA president Rodrigue Gilbert said in the release. “These needless tariffs will decrease productivity, harm economic growth, and put critical projects and countless construction jobs at risk – on both sides of the border.”

The CCA release noted the tariffs will likely increase costs on homebuilding and trade-enabling infrastructure, impact supply chains and trade relationships, and weaken economic development and productivity.

“Once again, this is a time where we need all Canadians to stand up for Canada,” said Gilbert. “This is not the time to sit on our hands – we all have to work together to increase productivity and support Canadian businesses, so that we can all build a stronger Canada and surmount this trade conflict.”