Jessica Horwitz comments in Yahoo Finance on the impact of Canada’s surtaxes on U.S. originating goods. These countermeasures were in response to U.S. tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum. Jessica says the impact of the surtax will depend largely on the importance of the import:

“If a Canadian company gets all of its supply of the goods that it sells or the goods that it uses as input to manufacture other goods in Canada from the U.S., and those goods are of U.S. origin, that’s going to be a big problem for the company. The company would then need to find an alternative source of supply or products, or see whether they qualify for any exemption or programs that reduce the impact of the surtax.”

As far as how consumers might be affected, Jessica says it will depend on whether or not companies want to pass down new costs. “Some companies might make the decision to absorb the cost because they don’t want to lose sales. That could affect the performance of the company but not necessarily consumers.”