A “Buy Canadian” movement is reportedly having an impact on the retail market in Canada as consumers in the country react to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats.
Trump hinted at 25 percent tariffs on Canadian goods soon after winning the 2024 presidential election and followed through on the proposal with an order on 1 February. Just days later, Trump paused the tariffs, citing concessions by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
In response to Trump’s tariff threats, premiers from all 13 Canadian provinces visited Washington D.C. on 12 February – the first time a premier from every province jointly participated in an international visit. The premiers met with political leaders in the U.S. to advocate for maintaining Canada-U.S. relations.
While Trump paused the tariffs for 30 days and Canada’s leaders work on a more permanent agreement, Canadian consumers have apparently decided to take matters into their own hands, the CBC reported. Consumers told the media they were boycotting American products in response to Trump’s tariff threats.
The Toronto Sun reported a survey performed on 1,590 Canadians by market research firm Leger found that 81 percent have significantly increased the amount of Canadian-made products they are buying.
According to the CBC, the “Buy Canadian” movement has already started to change how and where people are shopping.
Grocery store owner Marilyn Dib told the CBC many people are purchasing only Canadian-made products.
“They are completely boycotting the American made product,” she said.
Canadian border security posts have also reported big drops in south-bound crossings with average wait times at the Canada-U.S. border in Blaine, Washington dropping from 19 minutes to just 5 minutes.
Retailers in Canada have taken notice of the increased interest in Canadian products. Stephanie Bonk, a spokesperson for Canadian grocery chain Metro – which has annual sales of CAD 21 billion (USD 14.8 billion, EUR 14.1 billion) and operates nearly 1,000 food stores – told GlobalNews the company was planning to roll-out ways to make Canadian products more visible.
“In the current context, we are working to optimize the visibility of local and Canadian products – in-store, online, and on our various promotional tools like the weekly flyer – to make them easier to find for customers who want to prioritize them,” she said. “You will see these efforts start to roll out later this week.”
A spokesperson for Sobeys, which has over 1,500 stores across Canada, also said the company is planning to make its Canada-made goods more prominent.
“In light of recent developments, we are working to amplify this very successful local program while also accelerating the sourcing of Canadian products as alternatives to products on the tariff list,” the spokesperson told GlobalNews. “We will be using all of our communication channels, including in-store, to clearly identify Canadian products and give them greater prominence.”
Canada is a net exporter of seafood products to the U.S., and according to NOAA trade data the U.S. purchased USD 3.56 billion (EUR 3.39 billion) worth of edible seafood from Canada in 2023. However, the country also imports more seafood from the U.S. than from any other country. According to statistics from Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans, the country imported CAD 1.4 billion (USD 988 million, EUR 941 million) worth of seafood from the U.S. in 2023.
A significant amount of those imports were salmon, which made up CAD 409 million (USD 288 million, EUR 275 million) of that total.
