The trade war between the U.S. and Canada continues. Earlier this month, U.S. President Donald Trump implemented a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian goods and a 10 per cent tariff on energy imports following weeks of threats and negotiations. Trump's tariffs on both Canada and Mexico, initiated what former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau dubbed "a trade war."
What is Canada doing about tariffs?
Trudeau met Trump's tariffs by enacting a retaliatory 25 per cent duty against $30 billion worth of American goods, with another $125 billion prepared to be levied in three weeks if the situation persists.
In a press conference, Trudeau didn't mince words about Trump's decision. “Now it's not in my habit to agree with the Wall Street Journal, but Donald, they point out that even though you're a very smart guy, this is a very dumb thing to do," Trudeau said.
Now, Prime Minister Mark Carney is taking the reigns. The former central banker addressed Canada's relationship with the United States after he was sworn in.
"We respect President Trump - President Trump has put some very important issues at the top of his agenda. We understand his agenda," Carney told reporters. "In many respects, part of my experience overlaps with that of the President - we're both looking out for our countries. But he knows, and I know from long experience, that we can find mutual solutions that win for both."
Click here to jump right to our list of Canadian grocery brands
How do tariffs work? How does buying Canadian products help Canadians?
Trump's tariffs require companies importing products from Canada to pay a 25 per cent fee to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which then goes to the General Fund of the United States. Once importing companies pay the 25 per cent or 10 per cent tariff, they will likely adjust their retail prices to recoup the funds, making Canadian products more expensive for Americans.
In order to maintain sales, Canadian manufacturers could potentially lower their sale prices to entice American importers and offset the impact of the tariff the American company will have to pay.
Similarly, products imported from the U.S. into Canada will require Canadian importers to pay Trudeau's retaliatory 25 per cent tariff, which could push companies to raise their prices on imported goods.
Essentially, tariffs mean that both Canadians and Americans would be paying more on imported products, which could influence consumers' buying decisions, or impact importing and exporting.
By shopping Canadian products and brands, consumers in Canada would be exempt from potential tariffs, which means potentially saving money. Plus, there would be the added benefit of supporting Canadian manufacturers who may be impacted by the U.S. import tariffs
Trump's tariffs and statements about Canada as the "51st state" have drawn the ire of many Canadians. A whopping 94 per cent of more than 3,300 Yahoo Canada readers who voted in a recent poll said that they want to buy Canadian products whenever possible, while five per cent said the issue didn’t concern them.
“I fully intend to buy Canadian and leave American products on the shelves. Most people I know, as well as my family members, are all insisting that they will continue to restrict their purchases to Canadian products even if Trump does not impose tariffs,” a Yahoo Canada reader said earlier this year via e-mail. “The threat of the punitive tariffs is enough. I will never buy American."
“One option to push back on our American bullies is when we can't find a Canadian alternative, to buy Mexican in solidarity with our true allies — especially when it comes to our groceries," said another. "Failing that, [we can] buy anything other than American - we have lots of choices."
"I was always conscientious about Canadian products but now I’m going to be laser-focused on it especially at the grocery store,” a Yahoo Canada reader said.
How to tell if a product is made in Canada at the grocery store
Although tariffs have been paused, some grocery stores have opted to label Canadian made products with a Canadian flag next to its price tag to help conscious shoppers. Here are some other ways to tell if a product is made in Canada:
Look for a "Product of Canada" label
This label means that approximately 98 per cent of ingredients, processing and labour used to produce the product areCanadian. According to the Government of Canada, products that claim to be "Canadian" are considered the same as "Product of Canada."
Are you thinking of buying Canadian-made products? We want to hear from you. Contact us at yahoo.canada.lifestyle.editors@yahooinc.com and you could be featured in an upcoming Yahoo Canada article.
Check for "Made in Canada" labels
When products are labelled as "Made in Canada" it means that a majority of the product's last substantial transformation occurred in Canada. A substantial transformation of a product would include combining ingredients to create a new product. For example, ingredients like eggs, sugar and butter undergo a substantial transformation to produce cookies.
A product can also have a "Made in Canada" label if a majority (at least 51 per cent) of the costs incurred in manufacturing or producing the goods were incurred in Canada even if some ingredients are from other countries.
"Made in Canada" and qualifier labels
Some packages may include qualifiers to ensure that the consumer knows some ingredients were imported from other countries.
Examples of qualifiers can include:
Distilled in Canada
Refined in Canada
Packaged in Canada
Processed in Canada
Look for 100% claims
All ingredients, processing and labour for the product (and all of its components) are from Canada.
If you're someone choosing to shop consciously given the tariffs, we've gathered a helpful list of Canadian brands and those manufactured in Canada to help you on your next grocery shop.
Canadian-made grocery store items:
Dairy (milk, cheese, yogurt, butter etc.)
ADL
Agropur
Arla’s Foods
Black Diamond
Blakwell Dairy
Bothwell Cheese
Chapman’s
Cheez Whiz (manufactured in Canada)
Daiya
Eagle Brand
Earth’s Own
D. Dutchmen Farms
La Fromagerie Kapuskoise
Gay Lea
Grass Root Dairies
Halo Top
Hewitt’s
Island Farms
Laiterie de Caoticook
Lactancia
Kawartha Dairy
Keenan Farms
Kraft Singles (manufactured in Canada)
Miller’s Dairy
Natrel
Philadelphia Cream Cheese (manufactured in Canada)
Saputo
Shaw Ice Cream
Sheldon Creek Dairy
Silani Cheese
Slate River Dairy
Skotidakis
St. Albert Cheese Factory
Tre Stelle
Triple “A” Cheese
Thunder Oak Cheese Farm
Upper Canada Creamery
Gunn’s Hill Artisan Cheese
Dainty
Milk alternatives:
Natura
Baking & honey
Billy Bee Honey
Club House
Doyon Honey
Crave (desserts and dry ingredients)
E.D. Smith Jam
Ferrero
Five Roses Flour
No Name
Redpath Sugar
Robin Hood Flour
Shiriff
Dr. Oetker
Wine, beer & spirits
You may want to support these Canadian brands and products brewed in Canada:
13th Street
Arizona Hard Tea
Brasseur de Montreal
Blue Moon
Black Horse
Bohemian
Canadian Club
Carling
Collective Arts
Coors Edge
Coors Seltzer
Coors Light
Coors Original
Creemore Springs
Crown Royal
Dillons
Dominion Ale
Fine Company Beer
Forty Creek
Granville Island Brewing
Georgian Bay
Hop Valley Brewing
India Beer
Keystone
Labatt Blue
Laurentide
Le Trou du Diable
Mad Jack
Madrí Excepcional
Miller Genuine Draft
Miller Lite
Miller High Life
Molson Canadian
Molson Canadian Cold Shot
Molson Dry
Molson Exel
Molson Export
Molson Ultra
Molson XXX
Moosehead
Vienna
O’Keefe
Old Style Pilsner
Redstone
Rickard’s
Simply Spiked
Sol
Tawse
Vizzy Hard Seltzer
Bread, grains and cereals
You may want to support these Canadian brands and products manufactured in Canada:
Arva Flour Mills
Casa Mendoza
Country Harvest
D’Italiano
Dempsters (manufactured in Canada)
Dimpflmeier Bakery
Gadoua
Goh Goh Cereal
Grandma Emily
Holy Crap Cereal
K2 Milling
La Milanaise
Little Northern Bakehouse
NorQuin
Nature's Path
O’Doughs
One Degree Organics
Rogers
Rudolph's Bakeries
Sunny Boy Foods
Sunny Crunch Foods
Stone Mill Bakehouse
Yumi Organics
Wonder (manufactured in Canada)
Meats & poultry
Brandt Meats
Direct Plus Food Group:
Grimm's Fine Foods,
McSweeney's
Country Prime Meats,
Saporé Foods
Freybye
Greenfield Nautural Meat Co.
Harvest Meats
Lou’s Kitchen
Maple Leaf Foods
Salumeria il Tagliere
Sofina Foods: Janes, Lilydale, Mastro, San Daniele, Riserva, Cuddy, Vienna, Fletcher’s, Zamzam
Tony’s Meats
Snack foods, cookies, chips & popcorn
Audrey's Patisserie
Camino Chocolate
Celebration Cookies
Krack-O-Pop
Dare Foods
Ganong Chocolates
Georgian Bay Granola Company
Hardbite
Hawkins Cheezies
Hummingbird Chocolate
Inno Foods
Johnvince FoodsP
Kerrs Canady
La Cocina Tortilla Chips
La Montagne Chocolates
Lady Sarah Cookies
Laura Secord Chocolates
Leclerc
Made Good Foods
Maple Leaf CookiesA
MDR
Nomz
Old Dutch
OMG!
Peace by Chocolate
Purdy's Chocolate
Ronnie's Original Jumbo Seeds
Ross Chocolates
Skippy’s Kettlecorn
Sun-Rype
Uncle Bob's Popcorn
Voortman
Zak Organics Food
Condiments & seasoning
Instead of brands like Hidden Valley and Tobasco, you may want to try:
Buster Rhino BBQ Sauce
French's Mustard
Fire in the Kitchen
Greetalia Foods
GoBio! Organics
Heartbeat Hot Sauce
Kozlik’s Canadian Mustard
Kraft Heinz Canada (manufactured in Canada)
Little Creek (Salad Dressings)
Lord's Hot Sauce
PEI Sea Salt Co.
Peppermaster Hot Sauces
Renées
Silk Road Spices
Spice of Life Selections
The Ketchup Project
Vancouver Sea Salt
Windsor Salt
Coffee
Balzac’s Coffee Roasters
Bean North Roasting
Beaver Rock Roastery
Coastal Coffee Company
Fratello Coffee Roasters
Grounded Coffee Company
Jumping Bean Coffee
Just Us Coffee
Laughing Whale
Midnight Sun Coffee Roasters
Muskoka Roastery Coffee Co.
Nabob
Salt Spring Coffee
Salt Spring Coffee
Kintore Coffee Co.
Van Houtte
Tea
3 Teas
Amoda Tea
Auras Teas
Blue Teapot
Capital Tea
ChaNoir
Citizen Tea
David’s Tea
Distincly Tea
Escarpment Gardens
Four O’Clock Teas
Just Tea
Premium Tea
Red Rose Tea
Shanti Tea
Tea Desire
Tea Santa
Tealchemy
Tealish
The Naked Leaf
The Tea Haus
Four O’Clock Teas
Drinks (soft drinks, juices)
AlJuice
Allen’s
Alphonso
Apple & Eve
Clearly Canadian
Fairly Fruit
Graves
Great Value
Happy Parent
Hydra+
Kiju bilogique
Naya Bottled Water
Northland
Oasis
Old Orchard
Old South
PC Cola
Rougemont
Ruby Kist
SunRype
Switch
The Pop Shoppe
Walter Caesar
Note: Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have manufacturing facilities in Canada, but are not Canadian brands.
Have we forgotten something? Let us know! Email us at canada.lifestyle.editors@yahooinc.com.
Frozen foods
Arctic Gardens (manufactured in Canada)
Compliments
Cavendish Farms
Green Giant (manufactured in Canada)
Conscious
High Liner Goods
M&M Foods
McCain Foods
Nature’s Path
President’s Choice
Pet Food
Support Canadian pet food brands like:
Arcana
Canadian Naturals
Nutram Pet Food
Open Farm
Orijen Cat Fo
Oven Baked Tradition
Toilet paper & paper products
Cascades
Cashmere
Purex
Royale
Laundry detergent & dish soap
Tru Earth
Nature Clean
Let us know what you think by emailing us, commenting below and tweeting @YahooStyleCA! Follow us on Twitter and Instagram.
