Canadian grocers are increasingly being asked to identify more homegrown products as shoppers pay closer attention to where their food comes from.
The pressure comes as Canada’s trade relationship with the Trump administration deteriorates.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada had suspended trade talks with Washington and would respond to a planned 50% U.S. tariff on about $28 billion of Canadian goods with matching tariffs.
Carney’s statement went beyond the tariff dispute.
He cited nearly $25 billion in federal support to workers and businesses over the past year and a half and close to $500 billion in infrastructure projects now underway.
Canada is on pace for the second-fastest economic growth in the G7 over the next two years, he said, with job creation outpacing the United States by a wide margin.
Carney announced the suspension Aug. 21. He said changes to the U.S. terms had undermined confidence in reaching a deal and called Canada’s negotiating team back to Ottawa.
Exports to the United States fell 6.6% in July. Imports from the U.S. rose 1.8%, according to Statistics Canada’s latest trade figures.
Canada’s merchandise trade surplus with the United States dropped to $5.9 billion from $10.3 billion in June. Non-U.S. exports reached a record $25.6 billion, or 33.7% of total goods exports.
The worldwide merchandise surplus stood at $769 million in July after $4.2 billion in June. That was a fifth straight monthly surplus, much narrower than earlier in the summer.
last year February, Customers contacted Vince’s Market, a four-location independent grocery chain in Ontario, by email and Facebook to ask how they could identify Canadian-made products.
President Giancarlo Trimarchi said the chain produced its own “Product of Canada” shelf labels on in-store price-tag printers.
Canadian Grocer reported that the move followed a communication from the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers about federal and provincial efforts to encourage more local purchases.
According to Trimarchi, a Facebook post of the labels drew more than 1,000 likes, and the in-store response was also positive
President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the Interior Department to rename Lake Ontario as “Lake America” within 30 days.
The order cited U.S. Coast Guard operations on the Great Lakes and federal spending on the lake ecosystem, but did not address Canadian consumer buying patterns or grocery sourcing.
The order also cited U.S. Coast Guard operations on the Great Lakes and U.S. spending on the Great Lakes ecosystem.
There’s no indication the order was tied to purchasing decisions or sourcing choices by Canadian consumers or grocers.
Beyond the lake dispute, the buying team at Vince’s Market is preparing for possible changes in demand.
Trimarchi said the team was being asked to become more informed and prepared about which American products could see weaker demand, with Canadian alternatives considered if customers turn away from those products.
Canada is the world’s ninth-largest agri-food exporter and 11th-largest importer, according to the National Food Security Strategy. It ships about $100 billion in agri-food products each year while also relying heavily on imports to meet domestic demand.
Imports make up 88% of the fresh fruit and nuts consumed in Canada and 72% of vegetables.
The United States supplies 40% of those imports. Preserved fruits and vegetables are another major part of the picture: 45% of Canadian consumption is imported, and 58% of those imports come from the United States.
The U.S. supplies more than half of Canada’s agri-food imports and more than 61% of its agri-food exports.
Weather also limits what Canada can produce at home. Canada cannot supply all the fresh fruit and vegetables consumers demand year-round, the food strategy says. Imports account for only about half as much of the U.S. vegetable supply.
Ottawa is putting $750 million into controlled-environment agriculture over seven years. Greenhouse and vertical-farm operators adopting technologies including automation and robotics would receive $650 million.
Rural and northern communities would get the remaining $100 million to expand local food production.
The government aims to lift sales of indoor-grown food in Canada from $774 million in 2024 to $1.55 billion by 2032. Reliance on imported crops that can be grown indoors is to fall by 20%.
Building a larger domestic food supply will take longer than changing a shelf label.
The strategy also sets aside a Strategic Response Fund to expand food-processing capacity, with proposal rounds planned for June and the fall.
The measures are aimed at strengthening production and processing, not replacing imported produce on retailers’ shelves immediately.
Trimarchi noted Vince’s Market has not removed American products from its shelves and has no immediate plans to do so.
“We are not going to be removing product at this point. … If they stop buying an item, we’re going to stop replenishing the shelf.”
