Tariffs Make Headlines — Consumers and Businesses Pay the Bill

Small businesses experience trade wars one invoice, one shipment and one payroll at a time.

As free-enterprise advocates, the Alberta Business Alliance shares Premier Danielle Smith’s concern that no one benefits from a trade war. Tariffs and counter-tariffs ultimately hurt workers, businesses and families on both sides of the border.

And we should be clear about where those consequences land.

Consumers pay more. Businesses absorb higher costs. Investment gets delayed. Jobs are put at risk. And for some SMEs, the pressure can become existential.

Those making trade-policy decisions are often insulated from the immediate consequences. SMEs are not.

Small businesses face the higher input costs. They lose customers. They delay investments. They make the difficult staffing decisions. And sometimes they are forced to close their doors.

Yet these same businesses often have the least influence over the decisions that affect them most.

We saw a similar dynamic during COVID, when many small businesses found themselves on the front line of major policy decisions with limited ability to shape them.

We should not repeat that experience in a trade war.

That matters enormously in Alberta, where small businesses represent 95.4% of all businesses and support 34.9% of private-sector employment.

They are not a side story in Alberta’s economy.

They are employers, builders, innovators, investors and community leaders.

They need a stronger voice at the table. ABA intends to help provide it.

ABA intends to be different.

We want to be built for ACTION:

• A — Advocacy
• C — Collaboration
• T — Taking Action
• I — Insight
• O — Opportunity
• N — Network

Not another organization that simply talks about problems.

One that helps businesses organize around them, advocate effectively and move ideas forward.

Because when policy decisions are made, the people carrying the consequences should have a meaningful voice in shaping them.

For us, ACTION means more than commentary. It means doing the uncomfortable things, fighting back, even when the odds are against us, being honest and getting the real issues on the table.

It means bringing Alberta business leaders together, identifying the issues that matter, taking those concerns directly to decision-makers and working toward practical outcomes.

Because the businesses carrying the greatest risk should not have the smallest voice.

Having the SME voice at the table matters now more than ever.

Read the tariff article: Danielle Smith breaks with Ford’s tariff fight, warns Canadians will pay the price