Is Canada About to Kill Its Own Dive Industry?

What costs $1,000 in the U.S. now rings up at $1,650 or more in Canada—and that’s before shipping and taxes.

Canada’s dive industry has been treading water for years, but the newly imposed Canadian (not American) tariffs on dive gear imported from the United States might just be the final weight that pulls it under. If you know me or follow any of my articles or social media, I am not the kind of person who debates political ideology, or challenges government leadership. And I have always tried to keep my business about the business of diving science, nothing else which includes my social media posts. That said, the diving community and beyond (which includes anyone with a passion for exploring our lakes and oceans) needs to take heed on what is happening.

This spring the Canadian government put into effect counter-tariffs in response to Trump’s sweeping import duties. These new Canadian tariffs are currently set at 25% and apply to an extensive list of products including those categorized as sporting gear and scuba diving equipment. These tariffs, positioned as retaliatory or protective economic measures, are doing little more than punishing Canadian dive shops, instructors, and enthusiasts who rely almost entirely on U.S. suppliers. Unlike the automotive or steel sectors, Canada doesn’t manufacture its own dive gear at scale. We have no domestic production of diving masks, fins, BCDs, regulators, or rebreathers. Soooo... we don’t make it here, what exactly are we protecting?

With the 25% Canadian tariff on sporting equipment layered over a weak Canadian dollar, divers are now paying 60-70% more for U.S. gear. What costs $1,000 in the U.S. now rings up at $1,650 or more in Canada—and that’s before shipping and provincial/federal taxes.

I’m the first to advocate for supporting Canadian manufacturers like Whites Drysuits and Shearwater Computers, who’ve long set the standard for quality in exposure protection and decompression management respectively, but there really isn’t much else we make here in the great white north. The Canadian dive industry already faces enough challenges like a small population (1/8th of the U.S.) scattered over a massive lanscape to harsh seasonal weather conditions. The reality is that Canada’s dive market is too small to support a full ecosystem of scuba gear production. We need U.S. equipment to survive as an industry. These tariffs only drive-up prices, limit access, and discourage new divers from entering the sport. Don’t even get me started on the complicated brokering process involved with Canada’s on-line GST tracking and submission portal; ‘CARM’.

And let’s call it out plainly: how is this any better than the protectionist, populist trade policies Trump touts south of the border? If anything, it’s just as short-sighted and hurting small businesses, dive instructors, and the adventurous spirit that built this industry in Canada. We’re not talking about billion-dollar corporations here. We’re talking about local dive shops hanging on day to day doing what they do because they are passionate professionals doing their best to promote underwater exploration.

If these policies continue, many shops will close, Canadian diving professionals and shop owners who are trying to make a living will walk away, and future generations of Canadian divers may never get a chance to experience the underwater world we’ve spent decades building access to. Worse yet, we will see a significant decline in Canadians diving not just here in Canada, but around the world.

The Canadian and U.S. governments are warring with each other, the people who either own or support Canadian small businesses are the innocent getting sacrificed on the front line. The world has become critical of the sweeping Trump tariffs so it makes no sense that we retaliate with the same nonsensical tactics. Let’s be smart about this. Tariffs only make sense when there’s something worth protecting. When there’s no domestic gear to buy, all we’re doing is taxing ourselves.

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Comments or feedback? Drop them below. It’s time our government heard from the dive community before it’s too late.