Canada RV Groups Stress Consistent Message on Tariffs – RVBusiness – Breaking RV Industry News
Canadian RV dealers, OEMs and industry insiders tuned in to a Zoom conference Thursday (Feb. 6) to learn the latest about efforts by the RV Dealers Association (RVDA) of Canada and the Canadian RV Association (CRVA) to try to keep business on an even keel should tariffs be enacted by the Trump administration in early March.
On Feb. 1, the U.S. announced that tariffs would be put in place on Canadian goods, oil, natural gas and electricity. However, after a productive phone call between President Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the tariffs were postponed for 30 days.
But leaders of the Canadian RV industry aren’t just sitting back waiting for them to happen.
As announced during the webinar – which was moderated by RVDA of Canada President Eleonore Hamm and CRVA President Shane Devenish, who were joined by economist Charles Bernard – actions are being taken to try to stress to members of Parliament the importance of the RV industry to the Canadian economy and the fact that dealers are reliant on a consistent supply of RVs from the U.S.
To that end, the associations have drafted letters to all ministers of Parliament.
There are a handful of RV manufacturers in Canada, but they mostly produce Class B motorhomes and they don’t produce enough to supply all of the dealers in Canada.
Bernard, lead economist of Impact Public Affairs, which represents the industry and auto industry in Ottawa, said the 30-day postponement has given the industry ample time to bring its efforts to bear in lobbying the government.
He said that the tariffs are set to come in two waves. The first wave of Canadian retaliatory tariffs on U.S. products covers a variety of goods that could be included in an RV. The second wave, set to come 21 days later, would include RVs themselves and actually could hit dealers twice with a tariff on a refrigerator and a separate one on the RV.
“The delay gives us 30 days of preparation and engagement to build our key messaging and try to learn more about the details of these tariffs,” Bernard said. “These 30 days also give Canadian officials a chance to get back to the table with the Americans and get agreements on other items.”
He said there are a lot of positive words being sent from Canadian officials to the Americans to create the kind of environment where they can get clarity about what is expected for the next few months instead of going month by month.
While the entire group stressed they are working to keep RVing viable in Canada, they also don’t want to be seen as an opposing player of a Canada-strong approach.
Still, the industry needs to make sure Parliament knows it is a key employer that is reliant on imports from the U.S. to properly succeed.
Hamm said she has already had several meetings with members of parliament over the past week.
She also said the industry’s letter has been sent to Minister of Finance Dominic LeBlanc and other ministers involved with finance and international trade and tourism.
“We want to ensure that they understand … that they understand the economic impact of the RV industry, how many jobs we have like 141,000 jobs and what we contribute $16.2 billion (Canadian) to the GDP and how important it is to keep that going,” Hamm said. “Because obviously, if the dealers are not strong, the campgrounds start to become weaker and the tourism industry is affected.”
Hamm said that 95% of the product for Canadian dealers comes from the U.S., so the one area where it seems that government may be willing to listen is if there’s an industry that cannot source convenient product.
“That really is what we’re going to be pushing is that we do not have the Canadian infrastructure in place the manufacturing in place assisting the dealer network in Canada,” she said.
In addition, dealers can apply for a remission, which is an exemption from tariffs because of undue hardship.
Hamm said industry leaders are looking into seeing if the exemptions can be applied for by an association or if dealers have to apply individually, but some dealers have already done so on their own.
“We’re going to be monitoring and following up with them to see if there are some successful remission exemptions that go through, because then that would be obviously some precedent that’s set for dealers,” she said.
She encouraged all dealers to work with their provincial RVDAs and to take advantage of the letter that has been drafted to send similar letters to their provincial leaders. There has been some turmoil recently in the Canadian government with Trudeau losing popularity and a declining approval level that could potentially lead to early elections.
Devenish said that during Trump’s first term, RVs weren’t targeted by the Canadian counter-tariffs. But this time around, products from Republican states like Indiana are in the bullseye.
“That’s kind of why we’re seeing the Canadian government look to include recreational vehicles in their counter tariffs,” he said. “When we got wind of this, we had a lot of conversations with the RVIA who completely supports us in this and may have been engaging in some ‘back channel’ conversations with certain congressmen and senators.”
Hamm said the associations would be forwarding a two-page letter that dealers can personalize with their own information and send to their ministers of Parliament to help spread the message.
The associations plan to hold another Zoom conference before the tariffs are scheduled to take effect.
