Trade war taxes are turning up the heat on Canadian AC customers ahead of summer

When your broadcast conditioner is workings, it’s a lifesaver. When it’s non, things tin suit uncomfortable in a hurry — and expensive, too. 

This year, that bill could be even higher. And, yes, it’s because of tariffs.

Since steel and aluminum tariffs were put in place by the U.S., and counter ones added by Canada, the heating and cooling industry says it's the customer that's directly affected.

“It’s definitely a few hundred [dollars per unit],” said Bryan Hazzard, who owns Absolute Comfort Heating and Cooling in Windsor, Ont.

“The average tariff increases … somewhere between 20 and 30 per cent on our cost, our purchase price based on which manufacturer, and how they were affected by it.”

Furnaces, central air conditioners and standard storage water heaters are being hardest hit, according to Hazzard, because they’re primarily constructed of metal.

And that price jump is shocking some customers, he says.

“The average person only buys an air conditioner 1.5 times in their life. They may not have bought an air conditioner since the 80s or 90s. They have no idea what's happened with all the price increases, issues that happened with COVID.”

Hazzard says at the grocery store, where people shop on a weekly basis, customers notice items going up a little bit a time. But that’s not the case in the heating and cooling industry, he says.

“We had someone who replaced their furnace for the first time in their life and they're in their upper 50s, they had absolutely no idea what it would cost. There's just a big disconnect between that because you don't do it regularly.”

However, there could be some relief on the horizon when it comes to American trade war tariffs on Canadian metal products.

U.S. President Donald Trump signed a proclamation earlier this week to amend tariffs on some aluminum, steel and copper imports. Effective June 8, tariffs on some derivative products, including types of residential heating, air conditioning and ventilation equipment, would be lowered from 25 per cent to 15 per cent.

Martin Luymes, with the Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Institute of Canada, says heavy reliance on the U.S. To manufacture the products is the big reason why tariffs are contributing so heavily toward sticker shock for consumers.

“The vast majority of residential gas furnaces and air conditioning systems is served by companies based out of the U.S., to some extent, Japan and Korea, and now increasingly in China.”

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Luymes says contractors indicate their margins are pretty thin.

“There's not a lot of room for distributors and/or contractors to absorb price shocks like that. So yeah, they're typically passed on to the end user.”

He says roughly a year and a half ago, when prospective tariffs were first raised in the U.S., his organization urged the Canadian government not to retaliate with reciprocal tariffs.

“These are products that aren't really discretionary. When your furnace breaks down you pretty much need to replace it in a cold climate like Canada," he said. "And increasingly we're finding when people have air conditioning and it breaks down, they replace it.” 

Luymes says it’s not a simple as making a swap, like saying you’re going to switch from bourbon to a Canadian equivalent of something like rye whiskey — which in theory would punish the American supplier.

“There really isn't often a lot of choice to that product. It ends up that the the end user often in a time of need has to pay that extra cost. By imposing tariffs we really wouldn't be hurting the U.S. Manufacturers as much as we'd be hurting Canadian consumers who don't have a lot of alternatives to choose from.”

Hazzard says the best way to try and avoid your AC or furnace from failing is by taking good care of it.

“Maintenance is massive,” he said, by checking your filters every few months, and by keeping your outdoor AC unit cleaned off.

“Do not use a power sprayer or you will be buying a new unit because it will destroy the outside.”

Also, “set it and forget,” according to Hazzard during the summertime. 

“Pick a temperature you can live with night and day and leave it there. It is much easier for an air conditioner to maintain than to catch up.”

Journalist

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