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Varcoe: 'Irrelevant' or a 'knee-knocker' — high stakes for Alberta businesses as free trade review arrives this year The past year has been a period of chaos for trade-reliant businesses as they try to understand what the future holds

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The past year has been a period of chaos for trade-reliant businesses as they try to understand what the future holds

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U.S. President Donald Trump calls it irrelevant, but for Corey Smith, CEO of Alberta-based RAM Elevators and Lifts, the upcoming renegotiation of the free-trade deal in North America is a major deal.

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And the past 12 months of trade turmoil have been a “knee-knocker.”

With the existing Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) set for review this year, the chaos surrounding tariffs has business operators across the province trying to prepare for life with — and possibly without — a longer-term trade deal in place that lifts any uncertainty.

Smith, whose company manufactures residential wheelchair lifts, commercial lifts and residential elevators at its Edmonton facilities, recalls last year began with the American administration threatening to impose 25 per cent tariffs on almost all Canadian imports, before Trump provided an exemption for most goods under CUSMA.

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Even without tariffs hitting RAM’s products, the broader unpredictability led some smaller U.S. dealers that carry its elevators and lifts to become reluctant about selling non-U.S. goods.

“We haven’t given up on the States. Our U.S. business is down about 20 per cent but it hasn’t........

© Edmonton Journal