President Donald Trump’s trade war with Canada has disrupted billions of dollars in economic activity, affecting everything from automobiles to Crown Royal whiskey. And the tariffs are even complicating business at New York's first farm cidery.
Nine Pin Ciderworks in North Albany uses 3.3 million pounds of apples each year to make around 150,000 gallons of cider. Almost all of the apples come from an orchard in Kinderhook, about 21 miles away.
The problem is that most people drink Nine Pin’s ciders in cans — around 2.4 million cans each year. And while those cans are manufactured by Ball Co. in Saratoga, about 25 miles away, they’re made from imported aluminum sheets.
Nine Pin co-founder Sonya del Peral said that a local business relying on a nearby harvest should be insulated from the trade war. But it isn’t.
“It feels like that's some global thing, and it is, but the aluminum sheets that Ball uses to make the cans come from Canada,” Nine Pin cofounder Sonya del Peral said. “Otherwise, we're such a hyperlocal business.”
More than $21.1 billion of goods go from Canada into New York each year, including $1.1 billion of aluminum goods, according to the Canadian government. Trump imposed a 50% tariff on steel and aluminum imports starting last year.
The Republican president said he wanted to increase domestic production of the metals as a national security measure.
“Our steel and aluminum industries are coming back like never before,” Trump wrote on social media in May of last year. “This will be yet another BIG jolt of great news for our wonderful steel and aluminum workers.”
Garry Douglas, the longtime president of the North Country Chamber of Commerce in Plattsburgh, said he’s skeptical that will happen.
“You’ve got to find bauxite, and you’ve got to mine it, and you’ve got to produce raw aluminum,” he said, adding that would take years. “When is the last time you saw it easy to start a new mining operation anywhere in the U.S. for anything? Canada is much more conducive to mining.”
Del Peral said her canning costs increased by 30% due to the tariffs. That’s put a strain on her profit margin and forced her to increase a credit line with her bank. The added costs make it more difficult to think about expansion or other major business decisions.
Douglas said lots of businesses feel that way. He called the tariffs a tax, and said they’ve added uncertainty and sourness to what is normally an extremely friendly relationship with firms north of the border.
U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand on Thursday said she’s introduced legislation to repeal the Canadian tariffs. Trade talks between Canada and the United States collapsed in August. Canada then began talks to become an “associate member” of the European Union.
Trump responded with bans on the importation of Canadian beer, motorcycles and dairy products. He also decreed that Lake Ontario, which borders upstate New York, should now be called Lake America. The import bans are set to take effect on Tuesday.
“Costs could continue to go up if President Trump escalates this trade war,” said Gillibrand, a Democrat.
So far Nine Pin hasn’t increased the prices for its various ciders, most of which contain alcohol. A four-pack of the company’s flagship blend still goes for $12, but del Peral isn’t sure how long she can hold out.
“We're gun-shy about raising the prices because, you know, we understand right now that consumers are being very, very careful with their choices. And we don't want to lose customers,” she said. “At a certain point, it's not sustainable.”
