Small businesses are feeling the impact of tariffs with confidence at an all-time low, according to the Canadian Federal of Independent Business (CFIB).

CFIB says it crashed lower than it did at any time during the pandemic, 2008 financial crisis, or even 911.

Chief Economist and vice-president of research, Simon Gaudreault says no one knows when the tariff war will end, and businesses are worried the worst is yet to come.

“Small business owners are feeling pessimistic about their business’s perspectives for the next few months or even beyond. It’s hard to make critical decisions for the long, medium or short term when so much can change within a matter of hours.”

To get back some of the losses caused by the tariffs and to deal with the financial struggles, small businesses plan to jack prices by an average of 3.7 per cent, up from 3.0 per cent in February.

This is the largest month-over-month spike in price since the pandemic.

In addition to that, 19 per cent of small firms plan to lay off employees in the next few months with only 11 per cent looking to hire.

Tariffs coming from China will also make a negative impact, especially on the agriculture industry who face 100 per cent tariffs on canola oil, peas and oil cakes with 25 per cent on pork and aquatic products.

“Chinese tariffs are coming at the worst possible time given the ongoing uncertainty in our trading relationship with the United States,” Gaudreault adds.

Executive Vice-President of Advocacy at CFIB, Corinne Pohlmann says, now is the time to show strong support to small businesses.

“Taking proactive actions, such as making carbon tax rebates for small businesses tax free, adopting full mutual recognition right across Canada, increasing the lifetime capital gains exemption and ensuring there are supports that are accessible to small businesses to help them through this challenging ordeal would significantly boost confidence at a time when small businesses need it the most.”