Canadian businesses preparing for Tuesday’s imposition of tariffs are leaning into the “buy Canadian” sentiment.
Grocery chain Loblaw Companies Ltd. has committed to securing more food grown and made in Canada, after U.S. President Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs to be enacted Tuesday.
Per Bank, the company’s CEO, made the commitment on LinkedIn over the weekend. He also said Loblaw would seek Mexican alternatives for products it would usually purchase from the U.S., since Mexico is also facing the tariffs.
Meanwhile, Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke promised to bring features aimed at encouraging people to buy local in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico to his company’s Shop app.
The push to buy domestically ramped up over the weekend, after Trump announced he would apply 25 per cent tariffs to Canadian goods, with a lower 10 per cent duty on energy.
Canada has $30 billion worth of retaliatory tariffs on American products set to take effect the same day and will boost the package to $125 billion in 21 days if the U.S. doesn’t back off.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 3, 2025.
Companies in this story: (TSX:L, TSX:SHOP)
