With the US tariff Roil market, Canadian businesses build on European relations at the World Trade Fair
In a vast exhibition center in Hanover, Germany, 250 companies including Canada are participating in one of the world’s largest trade fairs, focusing on industrial technology and innovation.
A row of stalls and flashy displays were designed to inspire dialogue, but much of the discussion was about U.S. tariffs that hurt markets, hurt relationships, and forced some businesses to accelerate their push for new trading partners.
“I’m scared, I’m very nervous, but it’s absolutely overwhelming to see the reaction and reception we’re getting from the European market,” said Brad Sparkman, president of innovative finish solutions for Ontario-based innovation.
With both Canada and the EU (EU) taking stock of tariffs imposed by the U.S., the most important trading partners, businesses are trying to assess exactly how they will be affected and whether they can mitigate some of the economic blows by strengthening other trade relations.
On Wednesday, the Trump administration introduced a comprehensive tariff of 20% in the EU, with import taxes on foreign cars at 25% on Thursday morning, including import taxes on Canadian-made imports.
Cooling relationship with US customers
While Canada seems to have survived Wednesday’s announcement, it is already working to resolve Tariffs of 25% on certain Canadian goods and 10% energy.
Prime Minister Mark Carney called tariffs a tragedy of global trade. At the Hannover Expo, merchants say they are confused, clumsy, and even hurt.
Sparkman’s business focused on using robotics to paint cars, and he fought back how some of his U.S. contacts did not accept cooperation in the current climate.
“I feel like we are losing a very good family member,” he said. “It makes me sad that we can’t continue to do business like we used to.”
Brad Sparkman, owner of an Ontario company specializing in automotive robot painting, said his company has been taking risks in the European market and they have already supported us. ”
Sparkman said he began venturing into European markets a few years ago because he suspected trade with the United States could become more arduous.
Now, to mitigate the impact of tariffs, he is considering more production in the United States and further into Europe.
His business is located in Orangeville and Peterborough, partnered with Japanese automation company FANUC and did some work in Germany where cars and brands (such as Volkswagen, Audi and Mercedes-Benz) are the largest exporters.
Trade with the world’s third largest economy more
More than 4,000 companies participated in the Hannover trade fair, about a quarter of which came from Germany, the world’s third largest economy. Canada is a partner country for this year’s annual fair, with Canadian companies participating with representatives from provinces, some municipalities and universities.
Interest among Canadian businesses has surged in recent weeks, hoping to attend trade fairs.
NGEN CEO Jayson Myers, an Ottawa-based nonprofit focused on technological developments in advanced manufacturing, said Canadian companies have signed 80 companies over the past two months, a period when tariff issues have become more dramatic.
“I don’t think we’re going to replace our economic relationship with the United States, but the problems in the past few months have really shown urgency…find new markets, find new customers. “He said in an interview with CBC News in Hannover.
The EU is Canada’s second largest trading partner, with 27 members of the group exported after the United States in 2024 $84 billion Commodities to Canada, and Canada exported 34 billion Canadian dollars to the EU.
The EU-Canada Integrated Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) came into effect in 2017. Many worries They believe that some around food safety and obtaining public procurement contracts.
Germany approved CETA in 2022, and exports to Canada reached nearly C$25 billion in 2023. Canada’s exports reached more than one-third.
Chris Wyatt, head of sales and marketing at Kubes Steel, a metal manufacturer based in Stoney Creek, Ontario, often exports products to the U.S., said states may remain major customers despite the taxes. He decided to set up a stall at the Hannover Expo, because he hoped that there might be a demand for company products in Europe.
Wyatt acknowledged there aren’t many opportunities now, but said Europe could increase its defense spending in the future.
How protectionism backfires
VDMA’s deputy executive director Hartmut Rauen, deputy executive director of a German association composed of more than 3,000 mechanical engineering companies, believes Canada and Germany can work more together in green technology, automation and artificial intelligence.
Although he understands that the United States has lost a large proportion of its manufacturing industry, he says he doesn’t understand the Trump administration’s strategy to increase investment through protectionism.
In the short term, he said the United States will have to continue importing highly specialized German technology because its factories are now unable to produce on their own.
But with tariffs, that would cost more – Raun said he believes there would be a clear impact on consumers.
“This could end in the disaster of the U.S. economy and the world economy,” he said.
When Germany’s outgoing prime minister Olaf Scholz visited the trade show on Sunday, he warned not to “mislead the road to trade protectionism”, praising Canada and saying Germany stood with “independent sovereign states.”
The visit of German leaders and some reactions from the German business community have drawn encouragement, and industry experts hope it can be translated into actual trade.
“No group [Canada],” said Yvonne Denz, CEO of the Canadian German Chamber of Industry and Commerce.
“I hope my phone starts ringing next week and my inbox will get…ask what we can do in Canada.”
