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Dear ventureLAB community,
As most of you know, in the first months of President Trump’s second term, a new situation has developed that has the potential to impact founders across the ventureLAB community. This email is meant to inform our community about the situation, ventureLAB’s response and planned actions, and also to solicit input.
1. The situation
- In his first day of office (January 20th), President Trump signed an Executive Order for his “America First trade policy,” which sets up a review of USMCA (US- Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement) for April 1, 2025, ahead of the set review in 2026.
- Trump then announced a blanket 25% tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico - as well as 10% tariffs on all international goods. These were set to go into effect on February 3 but were delayed until today, March 4 - but they are now in effect.
- The Canadian Federal government will counter with tariffs on select US goods.
- Startup Canada is a good resource for more detailed information about the impacts of these tariffs.
2. ventureLAB’s response thus far
- Today, our CEO is in Ottawa, engaging with key stakeholders and bureaucrats to discuss how the implemented tariffs may impact Canadian businesses, innovation, and investment. We will alert federal politicians and officials of the special challenges that tariffs, including retaliatory tariffs, will pose for tech and hardware founders in particular.
- The ventureLAB team continues to monitor the situation and to pursue opportunities to advocate for protections for our ecosystem.
- The ventureLAB newsletter will regularly feature resources for you to help navigate the situation.
3. Your input matters
- ventureLAB regularly meets with senior government officials on trade and economic development, and our CEO is currently in Ottawa engaging with them. They want to hear from entrepreneurs like you. If you have specific input on how recent developments impact your business, please send it to sdodds@venturelab.ca. The more detailed your feedback, the more targeted and effective our proposed solutions can be.
As the situation continues to develop, we will provide updates like this one to the community.
Thank you,
ventureLAB Team
