Ottawa may not be known for Muskoka chairs, but the city's small manufacturers are paying close attention to a story out of cottage country that hits uncomfortably close to home. A Canadian maker of the iconic wide-armed chairs has been squeezed so hard by U.S. tariffs that it's now considering shifting the bulk of its manufacturing south of the border, according to a report from Global News.
A familiar squeeze for local makers
For mom-and-pop manufacturers, tariffs aren't an abstract policy debate, they're a direct hit to the bottom line. When the cost of shipping goods into the U.S. jumps overnight, a small operation doesn't have the cushion that a large multinational does. The Muskoka chair maker's dilemma, move production or lose competitiveness, is a scenario playing out for small manufacturers across Ontario, including here in Ottawa.
Ottawa is home to a scattering of independent furniture builders, woodworkers, and custom shops, many of whom sell into the U.S. market either directly or through larger retailers. For these businesses, the math is the same as it is for the chair maker profiled in the report: absorb the tariff cost and shrink margins, pass it on to customers and risk losing sales, or move production closer to the American buyer.
Why this matters beyond cottage country
Ottawa's economy leans heavily on government and tech, but the city also has a real, if less visible, base of small-scale manufacturing, everything from custom cabinetry to specialty furniture. These businesses tend to operate on thin margins already, competing against mass-produced imports. A sustained tariff regime that pushes Canadian manufacturers to relocate production threatens not just individual companies but the broader case for keeping manufacturing jobs in Ontario at all.
Local economic development groups in the National Capital Region have flagged cross-border trade uncertainty as a recurring concern for small businesses in recent months, and stories like this one give that concern a concrete face. If a well-known, iconic Canadian product like the Muskoka chair isn't immune to being pushed offshore, few small manufacturers can consider themselves safe.
What Ottawa businesses can watch for
Ottawa entrepreneurs in manufacturing and trade-exposed sectors would do well to keep an eye on how this situation develops. Federal supports for small exporters, any changes to tariff schedules, and moves by other manufacturers to relocate production are all signals worth tracking. For now, the Muskoka chair story stands as a cautionary tale: even a product synonymous with Canadian summers isn't guaranteed to keep being made here.
Ottawa's small business community, like small manufacturers everywhere in the province, will be watching to see whether this becomes an isolated case or the start of a broader trend.
Source: Global News Ottawa
