Canadian firms 'scrambling' to tally tariff costs that keep piling up

With multiple layers of tariffs stacking up, some Canadian businesses could end up paying levies of as much as 50 per cent or more as a result of the latest salvos in the trade war. Trade tensions between Canada and the U.S. escalated on Wednesday with the U.S. introducing a 25-per-cent tax on Canadian steel and aluminum imports while a sweeping tariff of the same amount on all Canadian goods is pending until April. Canada is introducing countertariffs on nearly $30-billion worth of aluminum, steel and other U.S. goods. Tom Gould, a customs and tariff strategy consultant based in Seattle,…