Portland Syrups lost more than $50,000 in Canadian orders within a single day after the Trump administration imposed new tariffs of up to 50% on certain Canadian imports Aug. 22, triggering a wave of Canadian buyer boycotts.

The Southeast Portland drink-mixer maker had spent two years building its Canadian business. The company created bilingual packaging for up to 150 grocery stores and one of Canada's largest online retailers.

Founder and CEO Dan McLaughlin told KGW the company finished that packaging investment just weeks before the tariffs were announced.

"Over the past month we had just finished all that, so we had invested and had the labels ready and had everything good to go and then it's like 'Oh wait! There's new tariffs, we just have to cancel everything,'" McLaughlin said.

The cancellations came not from the tariff rate alone but from a broader sentiment among Canadian buyers to boycott American goods, McLaughlin said. He called it a threat to every small U.S. business selling across the border.

Portland Syrups bottles and ships its drink mixers by hand from a warehouse on SE 11th Avenue. The company also imports some ingredients from overseas, and tariffs imposed in 2025 cost it more than $100,000. McLaughlin said he does not expect to recover the lost revenue from either year.

Statewide losses mount

The hit reflects a broader pattern across Oregon. A state report released Aug. 4, by Gov. Tina Kotek's office found that Oregon importers paid nearly $3 billion in tariffs between March and December 2025. The state's exports dropped 17% that year, even as national exports grew 5.7%.

Trump's tariffs contributed to a $442 million loss in Oregon's 2025–27 budget cycle, state economists estimated.

Attorney General Dan Rayfield co-led a coalition of 25 states in filing a third lawsuit against the tariffs on Monday, Aug. 3, in the U.S. Court of International Trade. Canada announced its own retaliatory tariffs Tuesday, Aug. 25, imposing duties of 15%, 25% and 50% across 700 U.S. products, according to Insurance Journal.

Those counter-tariffs take effect Sept. 8.