Nova Scotia Small Business Owners Losing 90% of U.S. Revenue as Canada-U.S. Trade War Deepens

By Kekeletso Nkele, small.news Assistant

(small.news) — Two Nova Scotia small business owners say the Canada-U.S. trade war has gutted their American customer base, forcing one to take on outside employment and the other to restructure her entire fulfillment operation, with both now calling on Canadians to redirect more spending to local businesses, according to CBC Nova Scotia.

Natasha Lawyer, owner of Sugarhouse Ceramic Co. in Kentville, told CBC Radio’s Mainstreet Nova Scotia that U.S. sales accounted for 80% of her total customer base two years ago, generating between $4,000 and $5,000 USD per month. Last month, that figure fell to $300 USD — a collapse she traces to the trade dispute’s escalation. The lawyer said her sales were roughly halved in 2025 after U.S. President Donald Trump first announced tariffs on Canadian goods, and the situation has continued to deteriorate since.

She has taken a side job to cover the shortfall. “It’s been absolutely insane,” she said.

Pre-emptive Restructuring Has Not Arrested the Decline

Laurie Dolhan of Wolfville, who sells embroidery kits through her business Hook, Line and Tinker, began planning for tariff disruption immediately after Trump won the 2024 U.S. presidential election. Although her products are not directly subject to tariffs, she expected American customers to become reluctant to buy from a Canadian business amid the broader trade climate.

Dolhan, a dual citizen of Canada and the United States, established a U.S. business entity and partnered with an American distribution center to fulfill orders domestically for her U.S. customers — moves designed to remove uncertainty about import charges on the buyer’s end. Despite those investments, she said U.S. sales have continued to decline.

“I’ve basically just been running myself ragged planning … every scenario that could happen to secure my business,” she said.

Dolhan said she is continuing to operate because her family’s livelihood and her employees’ jobs depend on it, and because maintaining Canadian manufacturing matters to her personally. “I love being here, so I want to produce in Canada. I want to support other Canadian businesses. I want to hire Canadian.”

Both Owners Urging Consumers to Shop Local

Both business owners are calling on Canadians to redirect spending toward local businesses amid the trade dispute.

Natasha said customers have been sympathetic and that their desire to support Canadian artists keeps her going. She said one practical step consumers can take is sharing on social media where they are buying and what they are purchasing, giving smaller businesses organic promotional reach at no cost.

Dolhan said even modest shifts in consumer behavior produce a measurable effect at the small business level. She cited redirecting $20 per week from a large retailer to a local farmers’ market or independent seller as an example, saying small businesses will feel that reallocation in a way that larger operators would not.