A weekly documentary show for people who love narrative podcasts. These are stories you can’t stop thinking about. That you’ll tell your friends about. And that will help you understand what’s going on in Canada, and why. Every week a journalist follows one story, meets the people at its centre, and makes it make sense. Sometimes it’s about people living out the headlines in real life. Sometimes it’s about someone you’ve never heard of, living through something you had no idea was happening. Either way, you’ll go somewhere, meet someone, get the context, and learn something new. (Plus it sounds really good. Mixed like a movie.) One story, well told, every week, from the award-winning team at the CBC Audio Doc Unit.
A weekly documentary show for people who love narrative podcasts. These are stories you can’t stop thinking about. That you’ll tell your friends about. And that will help you understand what’s going on in Canada, and why. Every week a journalist follows one story, meets the people at its centre, and makes it make sense. Sometimes it’s about people living out the headlines in real life. Sometimes it’s about someone you’ve never heard of, living through something you had no idea was happening. Either way, you’ll go somewhere, meet someone, get the context, and learn something new. (Plus it sounds really good. Mixed like a movie.) One story, well told, every week, from the award-winning team at the CBC Audio Doc Unit.
When tariffs on goods from China reached 145 percent, a cargo ship carrying tens of thousands of dollars worth of dog toys arrived in Los Angeles but was not unloaded. The toys remained on the ship as it sailed to New York City, in the hope that the tariffs would be lifted by the time it arrived. Had that plan failed, the entire cargo might have been destroyed. This was the kind of costly decision businesses have been facing during the trade war.
Behind every one of these desperate business decisions usually stands a customs broker. They're the pros who know how to navigate the maze of international trade rules. But when Trump launched his trade war, their world got turned inside out.
Their job went from filing forms and calculating duties to decoding confusing, exhaustive orders with 24 hours' notice. It also means delivering devastating news to business owners about mind-boggling new tariffs.
In Julia Pagel's documentary, she talks to customs brokers who have been on the front lines of this evolving trade war.
Produced by Julia Pagel and Joan Webber.
The documentary first aired on The Sunday Magazine in June of 2025.
Storylines is part of the CBC Audio Doc Unit
