A customer shops for produce at a grocery store In Toronto, on Feb. 2, 2024.Cole Burston/The Canadian Press
Many of the millions of Canadians who spent time digging out of recent snowstorms will have warmed themselves afterwards with hot chocolate, spiked coffee or a mug of tea. These comforts are rituals of Canadian winter, and also a reminder of the benefits of a connected world.
Cocoa beans, tea and coffee end up in the cup here after long journeys from Africa, Asia or South America. That Canadians can buy them for an affordable price is part of the miracle of global trade.
But U.S. President Donald Trump sees trade as more devilry than miracle. He’s threatening tariffs that could kneecap it, and devastate Canada’s economy. In response, Canadians are making their displeasure known in both meaningful ways – cross-border trips are down in B.C. – and in gestures such as replacing the name Americano with Canadiano.
Angus Reid says its polling shows an overwhelming desire to buy less from the United States. This is understandable. Canada is facing unreasonable behaviour from the leader of a country that is supposed to be Canada’s closest ally.
Still, the country shouldn’t take this sort of economic nationalism too far. While retaliatory snubbing of the U.S. is one thing, Canada is a long way from self-sufficient when it comes to food, and turning back from the world more generally would lead to a blander existence.
The best way to deflate Mr. Trump’s impact is to build trade networks elsewhere. Fight back without retreating into a shell. Be open but tough, a balance recently voiced by Peter Mandelson, the recently appointed British ambassador to the United States, who said that while he favoured free trade, “none of us can be a soft touch.”
Canadians can show their strength with a judicious flexing of consumer muscle.
It’s not always straightforward, as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau found out when he called Heinz ketchup foreign. The company is, but it makes the product for the Canadian market in Montreal, using domestically grown tomatoes.
Buying strictly Canadian can raise questions about who is benefiting and who is being harmed.
Efforts to support local business are also complicated by confusing country of origin labels. Made in Canada means something different than Product of Canada, which is different than something simply being labelled Canadian or adorned with a maple leaf.
Consumers shouldn’t need explainers to understand what they’re reading. The labelling system seems designed to obfuscate and must be simplified. Luckily, in the meantime there are private efforts springing up, offering apps that provide crucial information for people seeking to buy local.
Many foreign products have Canadian substitutes, albeit often with a higher price tag. And many products have seasonal substitutes. Don’t want to buy veggies from California? Depending on the time of year, the same may be available from fields in countries farther south.
Every Canadian will have to find their own balance. Some may not care or believe their actions have little impact. Others will want to take a stand, even if there is a personal cost.
That extra cost is a reminder of why global trade is worth protecting. Canada can’t produce what residents want at the prices to which they have become accustomed. But it goes beyond that. There are many things Canadians want to buy that, realistically speaking, cannot be produced domestically.
That’s okay. The greatest powers in history have been traders. Venice’s merchant fleet made the city for centuries the dominant force in Europe. Victorian London was headquarters of a global trading empire. In the 1940s, a less protectionist United States was a founding member of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which helped set the framework for post-war prosperity.
Central to trade, since ancient times, has been the pursuit of exotic or interesting foods. There’s an internet meme Canada may want to keep in mind. It suggests that we believe our ancestors would be most amazed by our technology, but actually they would be astounded by our spice shelves.
Canada needs to look past its difficulties with the United States and reach out to the world. Because the alternative, a country that turns inward to retreat behind trade barriers, would be a grim existence. Life without pepper seems hard to imagine. Lemons add zest to a February diet. Months-old root vegetables? Not so much.