WINNIPEG, MB — Palliser Furniture, a major Canadian manufacturer and designer of custom-made, upholstered home furnishings, the majority of which is sold in the U.S., but produced in manufacturing facilities in Canada and Mexico. 

Because of these factors, President Trump's tariffs have affected Palliser sales.

As a result, company's management has decided to reduce staff and reorganize manufacturing staffing. According to the Winnipeg Free Press, approximately 40 workers have been let go from the company, while at the same time Palliser Furniture is hiring 20 people to fill manufacturing roles at its Winnipeg plant. 

Peter Tielmann, president and CEO of Palliser Holdings Ltd., said the company has moved some aspects of its production to Winnipeg from Mexico and vice versa. Employees who were laid off did work such as building wood frames, cutting foam and assembling goods. The company is hiring staff to cut and sew material, work that was previously done solely in Mexico, the Free Press said.

The products are sold across North America primarily through authorized retail partners including the company's EQ3 retail division. “The EQ3 brand is built around ‘made in Canada,’ so we are making the products in Canada,” Tielmann said. “In order to be able to make the complete products here, we needed to be able to do cutting and sewing here again.”

According to the paper, Palliser Furniture expects to bring back the laid off staffers in the summer in preparation for fall, which is the company’s busiest time of the year. If all goes according to plan, the company will end 2026 with the same amount of employees it started the year with.

The size of Palliser Furniture’s workforce is subject to the seasonal nature of the company’s work, Tielmann said, adding last year, the company did not lay off anyone in a manufacturing role.

“We wouldn’t be probably laying anybody off despite the seasonalities if we wouldn’t be dealing with the results of the tariffs,” he said.

Palliser is an FDMC 300 listed company, ranking #34 on the list of top North American wood products manufacturers.