American vision care non-profit moving to Manitoba as U.S. tariffs drive up costs

American organizations that help people in need are now among those facing the sting of U.S. tariffs — and a non-profit that provides eye care to people in 68 countries is planning to move its production to Manitoba because of the uncertainty the tariffs have created.

Global Vision 2020 is a non-profit founded 15 years ago, with the goal of making glasses easily accessible, particularly in developing countries.

The organization says in the last seven years, it has helped nearly a million people in Africa, Asia and South America with vision issues, but earlier this month, decided it would be challenging to continue to work out of the United States. 

"For us … it's the chaos, it's the disruption, it's the unknowns that are really causing all of this," said Kevin White, Global Vision 2020's founder and executive director.

"We produce a really, really inexpensive product," but tariffs would make that impossible, he said.

The non-profit is able to keep the prices of glasses at roughly $5 a pair by sourcing raw materials like frames and lenses from China. Once the materials reach Global Vision's warehouse in the U.S., the organization packages and then ships the glasses to local clinics and distribution centres in countries that include Ghana, Malawi and Laos. 

On April 2, U.S. President Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs for most countries, but most were later paused — except for tariffs on China.

That move kicked off an ongoing back and forth, with both the U.S. and China adding tariffs.

"We don't even know what's happening," said Greg Wiens, the director of operations for Global Vision 2020. "One day it's 50 per cent, then next day it's 100 per cent."

The total levy on imports from China has now climbed to 145 per cent. That means instead of being able to provide adequate eye glasses at $5 a pair, Global Vision 2020 would have to almost double its prices, or have clinics and distributors in the developing world swallow the cost. 

"We obviously can't pay that without passing that cost on to our customers," said White.

Wiens said the added cost is "just not feasible."

"I'm thinking the most about my team … in Congo. They can't swallow that type of sudden increase," he said.

So last week, the organization made the decision to move production to Manitoba, in an effort to avoid the tariffs by importing to Canada directly from China, said Wiens.