(Bloomberg) — Kraft Heinz Co. said it’s “deeply disappointed” in Justin Trudeau after the Canadian prime minister threw a metaphorical tomato at the food manufacturer while discussing trade relations with the US.
Trudeau told reporters this week that his government will retaliate against any tariffs by the Trump administration by bringing in counter-tariffs against US-made products — focusing on items where Canadian consumers have alternatives.
Recalling the 2018 trade spat during Donald Trump’s first term in the White House, Trudeau told reporters: “The example from last time was Heinz’s ketchup being replaced by French’s ketchup because French’s was still using Canadian tomatoes in its ketchup.”
Kraft Heinz said Trudeau is perpetuating a myth.
While it’s true that Kraft Heinz wasn’t making ketchup in Canada at the time, it has since reopened Canadian production, with more than 1,000 workers employed at a Quebec-based facility that uses Ontario-grown tomatoes, the company said in a statement.
“Kraft Heinz Canada is deeply disappointed that Prime Minister Trudeau has made misleading statements that Heinz Ketchup is not made in Canada and that it may be a potential target for countervailing tariffs,” it said.
“With the exception of the five years from 2015 to 2020, we have made Heinz Ketchup in Canada for more than 100 years.”
—With assistance from Brian Platt.
