When the Trump administration took aim at free trade last year, Ryan Zoehner felt like he was under fire.

“Our supply chain got caught in the crosshairs,” said the CEO of a Vancouver-area manufacturer whose 165 employees make speakers, strobe lights, and intercoms for use in schools, hospitals, and airports.

The maze of tariff walls thrown up by U.S. President Donald Trump as well as Canada’s retaliatory duties meant Zoehner had to reroute the flow of 5,000 parts.

More than the cost of the tariffs, it was the turbulence stirred up by a barrage of trade threats and shifting rules that menaced his bottom line.

“Volatility is the main word,” he said.

Zoehner hopes the opposite will emerge from trade talks.

“The No. 1 thing as a business leader I’m looking for is consistency and clarity,” he said. 

Canada’s business community says a deal that lets most goods flow to the United States tariff-free is the top goal as negotiators gear up for a renewal deadline of the continental free trade pact. But corporate leaders disagree on how to reach that outcome, diverging on whether a quick-and-dirty deal or a wait-and-see approach offers the best path to stability.

The deadline for the USMCA is July 1. By then, the countries will have to decide whether to renew it or renegotiate it.

The heads of groups representing manufacturers, steel makers, and CEOs fall on one side of the debate, saying the cloud of uncertainty hanging over North American trade has stifled capital investment, hurt bottom lines, and upped the urgency to lock in an agreement.

On the other side, many small business owners and tech firms believe that the more time passes, the more pressure builds on Trump to ink a deal.

Earlier in June, the Trump administration proposed a 10% additional tariff on Canada and other countries, though the vast majority of goods exported to the U.S. are compliant with the existing trade pact and exempt from levies.

“We’re desperately in search of certainty, in search of predictability, both of which would inspire confidence to deploy capital,” said Goldy Hyder, CEO of the Business Council of Canada.

“Stretching this out is going to be harmful for all of us.”

Some level of baseline, near-universal tariff should be expected, Hyder said, echoing other business leaders. But they say the vast majority of trade should be exempt from those levies under the trade agreement.

“You’ve got to pay to play now,” he said. “Tariffs in some shape or form are going to be there.”