The Board of Trade supports Canada’s response to the ongoing trade dispute with the U.S. and is urging Ottawa to ensure that any assistance for affected businesses is “timely, accessible and efficient.”

Prime Minister Mark Carney instructed Canada’s negotiating team to walk away last week after the U.S. sought some last-minute changes to the pending agreement.

The Board of Trade calls the breakdown in trade negotiations “deeply disappointing” and not the outcome businesses or Canadian had hoped for.

In a statement issued yesterday, the board says it understands the necessity for retaliatory tariffs in what it calls “this exceptional context.”

The Prime Minister has offered support for affected business and the board is urging government to ensure that particular consideration be provided for small businesses that may be disproportionately affected by counter-tariffs.

Province Ready to Help Affected Businesses: Finance Minister

Finance Minister Craig Pardy says the provincial government stands ready to help businesses affected by the escalating trade war with the United States.

The U.S. is imposing 50 per cent tariffs on a wide range of Canadian products with Canadian counter tariffs to come into effect September 8.

Pardy is in Nunavut today participating in internal trade discussions and he met with his provincial counterparts yesterday to discuss a Team Canada approach to the breakdown in trade talks.

“We’re very much now in the planning phase, because I….like many others, figured that this deal would be consummated at the end of last week.