How is Canadian tech responding to the trade war?

Did someone poke the beaver and unleash Canada’s quiet patriotism? A 3-2 overtime hockey win says yes.

Canada’s impending trade war with the United States hasn’t come up much on The BetaKit Podcast.

Intentionally so, as I consider the podcast my last vestige of mental stability. But like chocolate and peanut butter, some flavours are destined to mix, and there’s so much to discuss that we can’t not discuss it. So this week is a ‘ripped from the headlines’ episode focused on dispatches from the trade war.

“Once you’ve cornered that beaver, look out. We are a vicious beast.”

Before we dug into the news too deep, my cohost Rob Kenedi and I did a brief patriotism check. Over the years, this podcast has deftly tracked the malaise felt by Canadian tech over productivity woes, declining entrepreneurship, and a host of other concerns. But I think Rob correctly notes in this episode the quiet patriotism ever-burbling underneath—like a beaver below the surface, waiting to strike. Call it the Older Sibling Paradox: we reserve the right to rag on our country any time we want, but if you start something, be prepared for a 3-2 overtime loss.

I wasn’t entirely accurate up top. We have discussed tariffs at least on this podcast, with SRTX’s Katherine Homuth. SRTX recently furloughed 40 percent of its staff in anticipation of a 41 percent duty on the company’s shipments to the United States. It seems as though some Canadian founders would rather incur the pain themselves than play wait-and-see.

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But it’s not just ecommerce companies being proactive. There’s also Canada’s largest tech company, Shopify (which, yes, supports ecommerce companies around the world). Shopify’s response has been a bit of a mixed bag, but to understand why, you’ll have to join us on the podcast.

Let’s dig in.

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