Made in Canada products: As Trump's tariffs & trade war continue, here's how to shop Canadian at the grocery store

If you're struggling to keep up with the latest on tariffs, you're not alone. While the international trade continues, it appears as though things remain the same for Canadian exports to the U.S. — at least for now. Over the past 24-ish hours, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause on "reciprocal" tariffs on non-retaliating countries as well as his decision to increase the tariff rate on imports to China to "at least 145 per cent."

Although the recent developments have great impacts on the stock market, the U.S.'s 25 per cent tariff on goods from Canada and Mexico not covered the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) trade pact remains in effect, as well as the 10 per cent tariff on energy and potash from both countries.

Click here to jump right to our list of Canadian grocery brands

What is Canada doing about tariffs?

In February, former Prime Minister Justin 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.

Prime Minister Carney has stated that funds from retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. will go to support Canadian workers and has vowed to impose more retaliatory tariffs if needed.

On April 9, Canada announced a 25 per cent tariff on non-Canada-US-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) compliant fully assembled vehicles and non-Canadian and non-Mexican content of CUSMA compliant vehicles imported from the US.

The duties were a response to Trump's April 3 enforcement of a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian automobiles and the anticipated tariff on auto parts produced in Canada.

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 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

How tariffs could impact Canadian shopping habits

Trump's tariffs and statements about Canada as the "51st state" have drawn the ire of many Canadians. A whopping 95 per cent of more than 9,400 Yahoo Canada readers who voted in a recent poll said that they want to buy Canadian products whenever possible, while four 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

• Danone ( brands Activia, Oikos and Danone all prepared in Canada)

• 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

• Copper Rose Vodka

• 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

• Covered Bridge

• Krack-O-Pop

• Dare Foods

• Ganong Chocolates

• Georgian Bay Granola Company

• Hardbite

• Hawkins Cheezies

• Hippie Snacks

• Hummingbird Chocolate

• Humpty Dumpty

• 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, sauces & seasoning

• Alymer Accents

• Buster Rhino BBQ Sauce

• French's Mustard (prepared in Canada)

• 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

• Ro*Tel

• 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

• Whistler Water

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

• Bonterra

• Cascades

• Cashmere

• Purex

• Royale

• Scotties

• Sponge Towels

Laundry detergent & dish soap

• Tru Earth

• Nature Clean

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