NAFTA a thing of the past! Expect to pay more for US made shaving supplies
Everyone has an opinion on NAFTA and what it means to them. From my understanding, it opened the door for Canadian supplier to provide needed goods to the US. For our American neighbor it was an economical way of purchasing raw material, goods and so on from a trusted-friend-State. Nobody was loosing work! In fact, it put more of us to work! If memory served us right, both governments (Canada/United Sates) had worked long and hard to make sure each nation would benefit from this. But we now live in different times. Via our friends at the Ultimate Barber Supplies, we were made aware of an import tariff change that will tax hair and shaving products an extra 10% when entering Canada. This is in response to the whole fiasco with steel and aluminum.
Here is the official blurb from the Department of Finance:
In tables 3, you will see:
In short, as of July 1, going forward, expect to fork out an extra 10% for all shaving products coming from south of the border.
In my humble opinion, we live in times where working with our friends and embracing unions is the key to any successful society and business. Our Friends in Great-Britain and in France have no such tariffs or extra dings against your wallet. In fact, I have ranted a great length in a number of post of how impressed I was when buying grooming supplies from both the UK and France. First off, the stuff is delivered at an almost cartoon like speed. The best scenario I experienced was 3 days between order and delivery. Second is the pricing. The British pound is roughly $1.75 CAN. (Exchange rates) But allot of these goods are sold cheaper in Europe. Thirdly and perhaps most important is that you will most likely not be taxed for your goods. The magic amount for goods coming into Canada from the US is $20. From the UK I get the sense that it is considerably higher, but have yet to confirm that.
As a side note, my favorite UK store is:
Bottom line, while our respective governments are barking at each other a gentleman still needs to shave. Buy local, buy Canadian, buy from our Friends in the UK, buy it from our Friends in France. Or, keep on buying from our Friends in the US because they really have nothing to do with this situation.
– Head Pomade Guy