Young & Wright Architectural share photo of McElrath Gym with the blank wall where bleachers held up in Canada due to tariffs are supposed to go. (August 25, 2026)
The United States’ new tariffs against Canada are affecting a Jamestown Public Schools project.
Young & Wright Architectural’s Richard Krouse informed the Jamestown School Board at their Tuesday meeting about the issue with the new bleachers for the McElrath Gymnasium, “We got a message today that they were delivering the bleachers from Canada and were denied entry due to 50% tariffs impacted on the assembly. So, the driver had to turn around, return it to the shop. They were planned to be installed later this week. So, there are some avenues that we’re exploring, or the supplier and the general contractor are exploring to try to navigate through this scenario. They didn’t have enough money to pay a 50% tariff on a couple $100,000 of bleachers.”
Superintendent Dr. Kevin Whitaker said the current plan is to disassemble the bleachers into bleacher parts, which the company believes will help avoid the tariff costs. He added that this should be a one-off problem as there shouldn’t be any other items that need to come from Canada for current capital projects in the District.
President Donald Trump imposed 50% tariffs on some Canadian goods and threatened more after trade talks broke down last week. NPR reports experts estimate the duties will affect 5% of Canada’s exports to the United States. Canadian Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said the country will match U.S. tariffs “dollar for dollar, rate for rate,” with tariffs of 15%, 25% and 50% on a range of exports from the U.S., effective September 8.
He said the countertariffs will focus on steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper, and electronics, totaling nearly $20 billion worth of annual imports from the United States.
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