A Memorial University business professor says business and industry are trying to find a way forward as they establish new supply chains and markets in the wake of Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canadian goods.

Tom Cooper, a professor of strategic management at the Faculty of Business at MUN, says this is an uncertain and volatile time.

He says while it’s tough for businesses to plan and make investment and budgetary decisions, it’s hard for consumers as well. “If you’re saying ‘hey, I was going to do that extension onto my house, or I was going to build that new big shed,'” and the price of lumber and materials is going to be going up 10 or 15 per cent, “that may mean that you may decide not to go forward with that project. And so, how this affects consumer behaviour, how this affects the supply chain is all really uncertain.”