Anian clothing maker: trade war strengthens Canada’s ties with Europe

Imports to the United States can fall, but other countries have not been seated while they are looking to see what President Donald Trump will then do in his trade war.

In Canada, a clothing manufacturer told Business Insider that the dispute leads its business to stronger links with Europe and the United Kingdom, where no new trade bar has been introduced.

“The United States is very self-concentrated,” said Paul Long, founder of Anian, based in Vancouver.

“A large part of the American public can forget that there are also other massive countries and massive savings which are just as happy to work with each other,” he added.

Long said that Anian has always obtained most of its raw materials from Europe to make his clothes in Canadian workshops. While most sales are in Canada, the company also ships American customers, mainly in the northwest of the Pacific.

With the constantly evolving advice of Washington, DC, Long said that many of its expeditions linked to the United States which were originally authorized under the minimis exemption are now frozen on the border for days without explanation.

Continuous uncertainty now makes him move his expansion plans from the United States to Europe.

“What it did was that it made us remove the gas pedal from our American expansion and start looking at our expansion from the United Kingdom and the EU,” he said.

Geographically, Long said that Anian had already had to understand the challenges to hand over his products to customers in the tentacular provinces, and that the United States most made sense as a neighbor nearby.

But he said that the prices pushed him to rethink the approach through the Atlantic: “If we can do it in Canada, Europe is much easier”.

However, Long says that some American loyal customers have shown their business support through high orders and personalized notes.

“I think in the end, Canada and States have so many things in common, culturally and economically,” he said.