Some Canadian retailers aren’t playing nice about US imports anymore. They’ve escalated from simply labeling products made in Canada to singling out American-made products with a warning label “T” for “tariffs.”
Loblaw Companies Ltd., which operates about 2,400 stores across Canada, announced on March 10 that it planned to roll out the ‘T’ label on US-imported goods that may have been subject to a tariff-related price increase. As the warning labels have been slowly rolled out over the last month, shoppers have noticed and are buying accordingly.
An April 17 Leger poll found that 76% of Canadians have increased their purchases of locally made and sourced goods in recent weeks, representing the highest number of respondents looking to buy Canadian goods since the market research firm began tracking the behavior in mid-February.
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Business Insider previously reported that Canadians have seen a surge in patriotism since President Donald Trump, in mid-March, made comments about making the 158-year-old nation the 51st US state — and that patriotism is reflected in the grocery aisle.
“All the grocery stores now have Canadian and American labelled produce — and the Canadian produce is always gone,” Vancouver-based shopper Isabella Zavarise told BI.
It’s not just a preference for Canadian-made goods; it’s an active avoidance of US imports, Zavarise said. And the preference isn’t about saving money — quite the opposite: “Everyone I know is shopping local despite how expensive it is,” she added.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported that small grocery stores, in particular, are seeing price increases related to the tariffs being exchanged between the US and Canada, and the country’s consumer price index rose 2.3% year over year in March, following an increase of 2.6% in February.
Prices of American imports have skyrocketed — 100ml of Tropicana orange juice is listed for $13.99 at Metro stores, another Canadian chain — but even locally-made goods have seen increases, the outlet reported.
The US and its Northern neighbor have been locked in an escalating trade dispute over Trump’s aggressive trade strategy, which, as of March 13, levied tariffs of 25% on many Canadian consumer goods and 10% on energy product imports from Canada.
Canada announced 25% counter-tariffs on US goods in response.
Representatives for Loblaw and Metro did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
