The recent threat of the USA introducing 25% tariffs on all imports from Canada has had a significant impact on Canadian makers, particularly those doing business online with a large US customer base.

That includes me. At the moment of this writing, the tariff is uncertain, but I am rethinking how to market my wares so that this small art business can survive. The addition of 25% cost to my pieces (paid by the buyer) will be too much for many folks. But beyond the selling of my wares, there is this seemingly hidden aspect, the blowback of retaliatory tariffs threatened by Canada against the USA, and what that means to us makers.

My clay, glazes and underglazes are all manufactured in the USA, so with the tariff, my clay supplier would pay the 25% price hike, which they’d pass on to their customers. I’m seeing them already sourcing Canada-made clay and other products, and am looking into switching as many materials as I can.

This may be more than a small bump in the road of my making. Changing to a new clay body means testing with new (or old) glazes and underglazes for compatibility. I still have a few boxes of the porcelain I’ve been working with, but when the time comes to restock, it will be with a Canadian-made clay. It’s a good opportunity to make colored slips & engobes and move away from reliance on commercial underglazes. But it will mean testing and delays. Same with my clear glazes, I’ve been wanting to replace the commercial ones with from-scratch recipes for a while. It will be much cheaper but will take me some time to find the right fit, and finding an equivalent satin glaze might be elusive.

So, in this 30-day period of uncertainty while the tariff on all imports is uncertain, I’m planning the transition and starting to research my options going forward. Fingers crossed that there will still be buyers of my wares on the other side of all this.