At least one major Canadian retailer is singling out American-made products with a label of "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 to show when a product entering Canada from the US "has had a tariff imposed that impacts its price." The labels have been slowly rolled out over the past month and can be seen on some products for sale online.
There appears to be a growing appetite among Canadians for products made in Canada. A survey last weekend by the market research firm Leger found that 76% of Canadian respondents said they'd increased their purchases of "local Canadian products" in recent weeks, representing the highest number of respondents giving that answer since the firm began asking the question in mid-February.
The US and its northern neighbor have been locked in an escalating trade dispute over President Donald 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% tariffs on US goods in response.
But even aside from the tariffs, Trump's rhetoric toward Canada — including making the 158-year-old nation the 51st US state — has helped spark a surge in Canadian patriotism that is felt, in some ways, in the grocery aisle.
Some Canadian consumers and businesses are boycotting nonessential items like American alcohol. A Canadian pub owner got creative to bypass American bourbon, and major grocery chains like Sobeys and Metro have prioritized promoting Canada-made goods both in stores and online, with some predicting lower sales of American products over the next year.
Some American businesses have also not been spared from the backlash. A small business previously told BI that it received emails from once loyal Canadian customers stating that they will cease purchasing US products. Trade experts have previously told BI that combined with tariffs on China and retaliatory measures, the pressure on American producers may ripple across supply chains and deepen economic strain.
"All the grocery stores now have Canadian- and American-labeled produce — and the Canadian produce is always gone," Isabella Zavarise, who lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, told Business Insider.
Zavarise described not just a preference for Canadian-made goods but an active avoidance of US ones. 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 recently that small grocery stores, in particular, were seeing price increases related to the tariffs being exchanged between the US and Canada. 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 goods have skyrocketed — the broadcaster noted that a major US orange juice brand, Tropicana, for instance, was being sold at double the price of local competitors' products at chains such as Metro — but even locally made goods have seen increases, the outlet reported.
Representatives for Loblaw and Metro did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
Correction: April 21, 2025 — An earlier version of this story misstated the price of Tropicana orange juice at Metro stores in Canada; the price has been removed from the story. The story was also updated to clarify when the Leger survey was conducted.
