A customer holds a bottle as a sign that reads ''Buy Canadian Instead'' is displayed after the top five U.S. liquor brands were removed from sale at B.C. Liquor Stores, as part of a response to U.S. President Donald Trump's 25% tariffs on Canadian goods, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Feb. 2.Chris Helgren/Reuters
Some Canadians are spending extra time (and money) at the grocery store, carefully avoiding American products in response to the looming 25-per-cent tariffs threatened by U.S. President Donald Trump.
For many, the idea is to support domestic products – but in some cases, boycotting American brands could actually hurt Canadian workers, says Simon Gaudreault, chief economist and vice-president of research at the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.
Many American companies manufacture or produce their goods in Canada, either fully or partially.
“There’s a lot of collateral damage,” Mr. Gaudreault said.
If boycotts continue long-term, American companies may scale back their Canadian operations, putting jobs at risk, he said. In 2023, 2.67 million people were employed by foreign multinational enterprises in Canada, with 62 per cent working for U.S.-controlled companies, according to Statistics Canada.
And job losses don’t just affect workers – they can ripple through entire communities. “If fewer people are working, that impacts restaurants and local businesses,” Mr. Gaudreault said.
When a company shuts down its Canadian operations, the fallout can be severe. In 2014, Kraft Heinz sold its tomato processing plant in Leamington, Ont., and moved production to the U.S., resulting in more than 1,000 lost jobs. The backlash from consumers was strong enough that Kraft Heinz eventually returned its ketchup production to Canada in 2020.
Skipping out on brands like Kraft Heinz or Coca-Cola might feel like a win for Canadians, but companies such as these employ thousands of Canadians and source ingredients domestically. Here are a few prominent case studies to consider:
- Coca-Cola employs more than 5,700 Canadians and has five manufacturing plants in the country.
- Kraft Heinz makes over half of the products it sells in Canada at its facility in Mount Royal, Que., including Kraft Peanut Butter, Philadelphia Cream Cheese and Heinz Ketchup. It employs more than 1,000 Canadians and is the largest purchaser of tomatoes in Ontario.
- Miss Vickie’s, once a Canadian brand but now owned by PepsiCo, uses Canadian potatoes for its chips. PepsiCo also uses Canadian potatoes for Lay’s and Ruffles made in Canada.
- Doyon Honey and Billy Bee uses 100 per cent Canadian honey, despite being owned by U.S.-based McCormick & Co.
It is difficult to boycott American products without affecting Canadian workers. “There’s always a Canadian component to everything you buy,” said Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University.
It’s important to first think about what you define as an “American” product, Mr. Charlebois said. Some people consider anything sold at Walmart to be American, while others focus on where a product is manufactured rather than who owns the company.
Take time to understand how food is labelled, he said. If you’re looking for Canadian food products, you’ll likely see one of two labels: “Made in Canada” or “Product of Canada.”
“Made in Canada” means the food product was last significantly transformed domestically, even if some of the ingredients are from other countries. “Product of Canada” means “all or virtually all major ingredients, processing and labour used to make the food product are Canadian,” according to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
The gold standard for buying Canadian is looking for the “Product of Canada” label, Mr. Charlebois said. But even buying products labelled “Made in Canada” helps support Canadian workers, he said.