Buying Canadian: A tariff-ic idea?

By Bradley Richards and Ernest Ko

Niagara wine and Quebec cheese? The United States tariffs may be hurting the once-strong relationship with its northern neighbours, and pressuring Canadians to opt for maple-labels.

Like many other Canadians, Algonquin College student Megan McNamara has begun looking at labels and searching for maple leaves as she tries to support Canadian businesses.

“I thought we had a better relationship with the U.S.,” McNamara said. “It’s disappointing to hear they’re going to do that.”

Since Feb. 2, Trump has threatened 25 per cent tariffs, backed down, and as of Feb. 10, imposed 25 per cent tariffs on all aluminum and steel imports to the U.S — including Canada’s.

Other Canadians, like mechanical engineering technology student Tavish Champagne, said he does not understand why Trump is proposing the tariffs.

“The tariffs are not a good idea for either side,” he said. “Nobody really wins in a tariff war.”

“All the people living in these countries are going to suffer because we already can’t afford things.”

Tariffs only make things worse, Champagne said.

Alongside comments of making Canada the 51st state, Trump sparked a national crisis, leaving many Canadians angry and rallying under the Maple Leaf.

Since the threats, College Square has seen Canadians’ disappointments firsthand. At Starbucks, Bailey Marshall, a local high-school student, called Trump’s tariffs “dumb.”

“It’s a waste of time,” she said. “He’s just trying to scare people into submission.”

Khadra Hasan, a cyber security analysis student, called the tariffs a potential “disaster” which could seriously hurt students’ wallets.

“I’m trying to check which products are made in America, and boycott as many American companies as I can,” Hasan said.

In the LCBO, McNamara said it is becoming clear “which drinks are being boycotted, and which ones are Canadian-made.”

McNamara agrees with the “Buy Canadian” attitude.

“I would rather support Canadians and support where I’m from,” she said.

Colin Hall, a part-time lecturer at Algonquin College and a frequent shopper at Loblaws, wants to buy Canadian as well.

“I’m probably part of the majority in that way,” Hall said. But buying Canadian is not always easy, he admitted.

“It’s hard to figure out (what’s Canadian) because you could have distributors on one side of the border, packaging it here, and calling it a product of Canada. It’s difficult.”

According to the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act, items with a “Product of Canada” label must have 98 per cent Canadian content.

“Made in Canada” products must contain at least 58 per cent of domestic ingredients, according to the law.

For the past week, Canadian social media has been circulating MadeinCa.ca, a website helping Canadians identify domestic products, including clothing, furniture, electronics and groceries.

Hall says shopping in locally-owned grocery stores helps.

“They often have more knowledge about where their products come from, as opposed to supermarket chains,” Hall said.

Patrick Leblond, a University of Ottawa associate professor in the graduate school of public and international affairs, said finding alternative products is a reasonable response to the ominous tariffs.

Leblond said buying Canadian has real, positive impacts too.

“It sends a signal,” Leblond said. “More U.S. companies will feel that impact, and it’ll put pressure on the (United States). All of that pressure then feeds back to the administration.”

Leblond doesn’t buy the idea of tariffs, especially the economic rationales behind them.

Contrary to Trump’s statements, the United States does not subsidize Canada with trade. Instead, the decades-long free trade agreements are a by-product of America’s robust economy and the two countries’ strong trade relationship, according to a recent report by TD Economics.

Tariffs could abandon that relationship, harming people in both the U.S. and Canada in the process.

“Tariffs are a tax,” Leblond said. “Economically, it’s bad for everyone.

“It hurts Canadian companies producing goods to the U.S., because all of a sudden, they’re now paying 25 per cent more.”

Leblond said this could lead to companies trying to push the cost onto American consumers.

“It would fuel inflation,” he said.

Away from the world of macroeconomics, Jesse Piggot, an accounting student at Algonquin College, has already made up his mind.

Sitting in the Wolves Den, with a domestic pint in his hand, Piggot said that tariffs or no tariffs, his purchasing habits aren’t changing — especially when it comes to Canadian alcohol.

“If I’m going to drink myself into oblivion, I might as well have a Canadian product,” Piggot said.