June 30, 2025
Canada Tariff Relief Offset by Broader Trade Uncertainty
Sudden policy pivot calms Canadian lighting people for now. But Trump’s global tariff clock keeps industry guessing.
By Monday morning, the panic had mostly drained away — but the lesson stuck. Over the weekend, a fresh round of threatened U.S. tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminum and finished goods loomed large enough to rattle supply chain managers Friday through late Sunday. By dawn, Ottawa and Washington had dialed it back: Canada agreed to suspend its new digital services tax and trade panic dissipated just in time for manufacturers to exhale.
If it all feels familiar, that’s because it is. Back in early March, actual duties hit Canadian exports for two jittery days before a similar spontaneous reversal. The pullback buys time but not certainty. President Trump and Prime Minister Mark Carney now have until July 21 to hammer out a wider trade pact. Until ink dries on that agreement, cross-border flows of poles, brackets and high-end architectural fixtures remain exposed if talks break down. One less immediate crisis — but hardly a closed chapter.
July 9 Still Looms Large
Meanwhile, the broader global clock keeps ticking. The 90-day pause on President Trump’s sweeping “reciprocal tariffs” runs out July 9, threatening to snap tariffs on core lighting components back to rates as high as 50%. With no fresh executive order yet, importers of drivers, LED modules, housings and electronics from Asia or Europe face a cost spike that could ripple through project bids and inventory budgets within days.
So far, only partial deals with China and the UK have emerged, while European Union talks remain bogged down in internal disputes. The default, as of today, is that tariffs return automatically next week.
While the president has hinted he might extend the pause — “we can do whatever we want,” he said on Friday — there’s no legal order yet to stop tariffs on key inputs like electronics, fasteners, drivers and packaging from snapping back to rates as high as 50%.
Winners, Losers, and Unfinished Business
The overnight Canadian reversal offers at least a temporary lifeline for North American supply chains. Major Quebec-based architectural lighting players like LMPG — parent to Lumenpulse, Fluxwerx and Sternberg — along with Lumenwerx as well as Axis Lighting’s new New Jersey outpost, have options to pivot sourcing stateside if Canada-specific duties reappear.
But smaller Canadian firms with all-local production and heavy U.S. sales remain in the crosshairs if talks derail. They don’t have the same levers to reroute supply or shield costs — as the quiet closure of British Columbia’s Rebelle Architectural Lighting this month showed all too starkly. “In the past few years, manufacturing in Canada has become a challenge that our small family business no longer wishes to pursue,” wrote company principal Sarah Charland. One line from her letter stood out: “We rely heavily on business from the United States and the political landscape has made it difficult to confidently continue operations.”
For now, the North American industry gets a breather, not a break. Until an executive order lands or deals are finalized, companies should assume the clock is ticking as the global tariff pause expires next week — unless, of course, “we do whatever we want” turns into something more official.
