Vancouver Island business leaders talk diversification amidst trade uncertainty
Published 8:00 am Sunday, November 9, 2025
Vancouver Island businesses need to expand their reach in order to combat tariffs from the United States, agreed panelists at an economic conference in Nanaimo.
At the Vancouver Island Economic Alliance’s State of the Island Summit on Wednesday, Oct. 29, Reo Phillips, president and CEO of Pacific Energy Fireplace Products, Rod Szasz, director of FireBozz firefighting equipment, Paul Choi, B.C. parliamentary secretary for trade, and moderator Brady Calancie, export advisor with Export Navigator, gave insight on how the Island can adapt amidst the trade war.
U.S. President Donald Trump recently announced a new 10 per cent tariff on Canadian goods, which Choi says is causing unease. Trump’s tweeting is the biggest challenge “because that’s what makes it so unpredictable,” and the issue isn’t only with impacted businesses, but other businesses because of the uncertainty in the world market.
“What we have seen though, in terms of different opportunities, is that more than ever our local economies [are] coming together and getting behind buying B.C., buying Canadian products,” said Choi. “I think we’ve seen people being more aware. Is this product being made locally? Is it a B.C.-made product? Is it Canadian-made products? And we are asking those questions, which I think is really helpful to ensure we are aware of where our products come from.”
Phillips said the U.S. represents his company’s largest market. After living with the luxury of the North American Free Trade Agreement and Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, he didn’t expect changes until last year’s U.S. presidential election and started contemplating what it would mean.
“The Canadian market has been fantastic for us, but it was exports that allowed us to grow. So how do we diversify? … The U.S. is by far our largest market, and so we do need to diversify, but we also need to make sure we’re keeping them close [and] figuring out how we can work with them,” said Phillips. “That’s just the reality of our business.”
Szasz gave his thoughts about building resilience, and pointed to Innovate B.C.’s Venture Acceleration as an example of a program that can help ideas get to market.
“I think if this change we’re experiencing right now is really as extensive as we think … we need to build up on the back end, and that means more government resources going into education,” he told the audience. “It means more seamless transfer of ideas from the idea economy into the economy at large.”
Choi said there are other government programs available, mentioning the Export Navigator that helps businesses become export-ready to diversify into different markets, and a trade accelerator program that assists small- and medium-sized businesses to develop market-entry plans.
Szasz advised remaining steadfast in the current economic climate.
“It’s OK to be uncertain,” he said. It’s OK to deal with challenges and changes – it’s going to strengthen you and make your business stronger in the mid- to long-term. In spite of all this stuff that’s happening, we are enjoying the best sales that we’ve had so far this year … So don’t get too daunted by the whole situation.”