A Memorial University economics professor says Canadians will eventually pay the price for counter tariffs imposed by Ottawa on a range of U.S. goods.

Affected U.S. imports include $28 billion-worth of 629 items from clothing and home appliances, to metals and electronics and range from 15 per cent to 50 per cent.

Tom Cooper says local companies will have to collect what amounts to a tax on behalf of the federal government.

“It could be an amazing organization like PF Collins, they would collect the tax.” He told the Tim Powers Show on VOCM, “it’s not a bill that we send, instead, we collect it.”

Cooper says the cost increases won’t be felt immediately, and if an importer thinks the measures are short-term, they may eat the cost, but if the tariffs drag out, you can expect for those costs to be downloaded onto the consumer.

“It’s more of something that we see gradually…but yes, definitely, we pay for it as consumers.”