Merchant Growth finds 52% of affected owners now trail last year's results
Sixty-five percent of Canadian small business owners say US-Canada trade tensions have affected their business in 2026, and 52 percent of those owners say their business is performing worse than at the same point a year earlier.
The 2026 Canadian Small Business Report by Merchant Growth, an online financing and growth provider for Canadian small businesses, found that 68 percent of owners report no noticeable impact from the tariff relief programs federal and provincial governments have introduced.
Thirty-seven percent say they are not part of the national conversation at all, and 39 percent say large exporters, manufacturers, and political considerations come first.
Twenty-two percent have used personal credit, including credit cards, home equity lines of credit or personal loans, to fund their business.
David Gens, founder and CEO of Merchant Growth, said in the report that owners "don't have to export anything to feel this trade war."
The cost reaches them through supplier invoices or customers who hold off, he said, and many owners cannot pass it along.
Thirty-eight percent of owners saw an increased cost of goods or supplies as a result of the trade disruptions.
Twenty-seven percent faced lower revenue, 26 percent experienced lower customer demand, and 23 percent absorbed higher costs because they could not raise prices.
Twelve percent of owners saw contracts or orders cancelled or paused, and 6 percent lost a US customer or contract outright.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business estimated that more than 53,000 small and medium-sized businesses sit in the crossfire of US tariffs, Canadian counter-tariffs, or both, a broader exposure.
Thirteen percent of owners have stopped working with US suppliers or partners, 9 percent have found new suppliers outside the US, and 8 percent have stopped selling to US customers.
Eleven percent plan to seek new customers or suppliers outside the US over the next six months.
Fifty-six percent of Canadian consumers have shopped more from Canadian small businesses in the past 12 months than in previous years, and the share shopping much more rose from 20 percent in 2025 to 24 percent in 2026.
Sixty-seven percent of owners say the movement has had no noticeable impact on their business, while 24 percent report a positive impact so far in 2026.
Supporting the local economy (75 percent), supporting Canadian jobs (69 percent), and US tariffs (55 percent) ranked as consumers' top motivators.
Prices (52 percent) and product availability (31 percent) were the leading barriers, a cost sensitivity that tracks with earlier CFIB findings that 65 percent of small businesses would raise consumer prices to offset tariffs.
Inflation or rising input costs (44 percent), weak customer spending (38 percent), rising fuel and energy costs (36 percent), and trade uncertainty (12 percent) are the pressures owners identified this year.
Twenty-two percent increased prices, 15 percent delayed or cancelled a planned expansion investment, 11 percent reduced staff or hours, and 10 percent paused hiring.
Forty-one percent plan to hold steady over the next six months.
Twenty-two percent plan to raise prices, 14 percent plan to wind down their business, and 9 percent plan to reduce staff or hours, against a backdrop in which CFIB reported that 38 percent of tariff-affected firms would not last a year without a change in conditions.
