With the US tariff, Canadian companies depend on European relations at the World Trade Exhibition

At a center for exhibitions in Hanover, Germany, thousands of companies, including 250 Canada, participate in one of the largest commercial exhibitions in the world that focuses on industrial and innovation technology.

The rows of kiosks and delightful offers aim to raise the conversation, but a lot of discussion was about the American definitions, which link markets, and relations that were subjected to danger and forced some companies to accelerate their push to new commercial partners.

“I was afraid, I was very tense, but it was important to see the response and reception that we get from European markets,” said Brad Spracman, head of completion of innovation in Ontario.

With Canada and the European Union (EU) evaluating the customs tariff imposed by the United States, their most important commercial partner, companies are trying to assess exactly how they are affected – and whether they can reduce some economic strikes by strengthening other trade relations.

On Wednesday, the Trump administration made a 20 percent comprehensive tariff for the European Union, and on Thursday morning, it entered the duty of importing 25 percent on foreign cars into effect, including those made in Canada.

Relationship relationship with US agents

While it seems that Canada has succeeded in a Wednesday announcement, it is already struggling with a A 25 % tariff for some Canadian goods And 10 percent on energy.

Prime Minister Mark Carney described definitions as a tragedy of global trade. At Hanover, businessmen say they have left confidentiality, upward – and even harm.

Sparcman fought, whose work mainly focuses on using automatic technology for car paint, on his tears as he told CBC News about how some of his contacts in the United States did not accept together in the current climate.

“I feel that we are really losing a family member,” he said. “The fact that we cannot continue to do business as we did before, it saddens me.”

Sparsman said that he started adventure in the European market a few years ago, because it is suspected that trade with the United States may become more stressful.

Now, in an attempt to alleviate the effects of definitions, he is considering making more production in the United States and branching to Europe.

Its work, based in Orangeville and Peterborough, held a partnership with the Japanese automation company FANUC, and it is doing some business in Germany, where cars and brands such as Volkswagen, Audi and Mercedes-Benz are the largest export.

More trade with the third largest economy in the world

More than 4000 companies participate in the Hanover Commercial Fair, and about a quarter of them from Germany, the third largest economy in the world. Canada is the partner country for this year for the annual exhibition, as Canadian companies participate alongside representatives of provinces, some municipalities and universities.

In recent weeks, there has been a rise in attention from Canadian companies looking to participate in the commercial exhibition.

Jason Myers, CEO of NGEN, a non -profit organization based in Ottawa, which focuses on technological development in advanced manufacturing, said 80 Canadian companies have participated in the past two months, while tariff issues are more dramatic.

“He said in an interview with CBC News in Hanover:

The European Union is the second largest trading partner in Canada, after the United States in 2024, the 27 -member bloc was exported 84 billion dollars In the goods to Canada, while Canada was $ 34 billion to the European Union.

The comprehensive economic and commercial agreement of the European Union (CETA), which temporarily entered into 2017, regulates trade between the two partners-but the agreement was not ratified after 10 countries in the European Union due to A number of fears They keep, including some about food safety and access to public purchasing contracts.

Germany, which CETA encountered in 2022, witnessed that exports to Canada were about $ 25 billion in 2023. Canadian exports reached a little more than a third of that.

Kubes Steel, the Kubes Steel, a metal factory based in Stoney Creek, Anton, often does products to the United States, and said he believed that the states would likely remain a major agent despite the definitions. He decided to create a booth at the Hanover exhibition because he was hoping that there would be a European demand for his company’s products.

White admits that there is no great opportunity now, but he said that there can be in the future as Europe is moving to increase its defensive spending.

How can the fever be in reverse results

Hartmut Rauen, Vice Executive Director of VDMA, a German association that includes more than 3000 mechanical engineering companies, believes that Canada and Germany can cooperate more when it comes to green technology, automation and artificial intelligence.

While he realizes that the United States has lost a high percentage of its manufacturing functions, it does not understand the Trump administration strategy to try to increase investment through protectionism.

He said that in the short term, the United States will have to continue to import very specialized German technology, because its factories cannot produce this now on its own.

But with definitions, it will cost this more – Ruwin said he believed that there will be a noticeable effect for consumers.

“It may end in a disaster for the American economy as well as the global economy,” he said.

When the outgoing German advisor, Olaf Schools, visited the commercial exhibition on Sunday, he warned of the “misleading protectionist path”, and he praised Canada and said that Germany was standing with the “independent sovereign country”.

The visit of the leader of Germany and some reaction from the German business community was encouraging for those who attended, and industry experts hope to translate into actual trade.

“There is no single committee, not a single event I attended this week as there was no strong sign of standing with (Canada),” said IPhone Denz, CEO of the German German Chamber of Industry and Trade.

“I hope my phone will start in the ring next week and my inbox will get … crushed with inquiries about what we can do in Canada.”