Entrepreneurs say the ‘Buy Canadian’ bump induced by Trump’s tariff war is real
Many Canadian shoppers have turned to Canadian brands in the wake of President Donald Trump’s threats of imposing tariffs on the country.
Trump in early February backtracked on previously proposed tariffs that would have slapped a 25% tax on imports from Mexico and Canada. But on Monday, he said they would start March 4. Even before any tariffs take effect, Canadians have been interested in fighting with their wallets. In February, Canadian nonprofit Angus Reid Institute surveyed 3,310 Canadians and found that 85% of them plan to replace at least some U.S. products with alternatives from their country. Sales of Canadian-prepared food at major supermarket operator Loblaw Cos. grew 7.5% in the first week of February, even before the grocer began highlighting Canadian-made products in its stores, its CEO said in a LinkedIn post.
Canadian brands have noticed this influx in interest from shoppers, telling Modern Retail that they have seen some improvement in sales figures, a surge in inquiries about where their products are being made, or more favorable treatment from retailers and other partners. Some have responded with new marketing initiatives highlighting their country of origin.
Karen Danudjaja, co-founder and CEO of Blume, a brand of superfood lattes based in Vancouver, said the interest in Canadian businesses comes from both sides of the border as well as across the globe.
“People are directly writing into customer service asking detailed questions on whether they are Canadian, where they source from, where they get their packaging, where the product gets blended,” Danudjaja said.
Additionally, Danudjaja said Canadian retailers are actively giving more attention to Canadian brands through secondary displays, additional signage and end caps — things brands would normally have to negotiate for. “We’re seeing retailers really rally around it and put Canadian products first.”
For Danudjaja, the support goes beyond retailers and customers. “We’re going down to Expo West, which is a big trade show for consumer brands, and when our Airbnb host heard we were Canadian, they waived early check-in fees.”
Brands are also finding a need to adjust their marketing strategies. Search terms including “made in Canada,” “Canadian brands” and “Canadian products” saw a large spike in February, according to Google Trends.
Because of this, Blume has made the fact that it is a Canadian company more prominent on its website. Blume has also begun talking about its Canadian roots more on on social media and has added its birthplace to advertising copy. In the past, the brand has acquired customers who were attracted to the fact that it is women-founded or that it sells organic and gluten-free products, and it has played into those identities. Danudjaja added that, to many around the world, being Canadian is a sign of quality. As such, the brand has seen interest from customers in Europe and Asia.
“There are many parts of the world that see Canadian products as really wholesome, high-integrity, high-quality,” Danudjaja said. “We do have really high health-standard regulations — our equivalent of the FDA is a lot stricter. In general, it’s a really trustworthy place to purchase products from.”
Samantha Diamond, co-founder and CEO of Toronto-based Bird&Be, which sells fertility products, said her company has created ads, email campaigns and social media campaigns reiterating the fact that it is a Canadian-born, Canadian-made company. She said the U.S. makes up about 60% of its business, but in February, it saw slightly more sales from Canada than in the U.S.
“The populations are very similar, and the challenges that they face are very similar. So, initially, there wasn’t a huge difference between how we addressed Canadian customers and how we addressed U.S. customers,” she said. Now, “We have the opportunity for specific, targeted campaigns to the Canadian customer, reminding them that we’re a Canadian brand.”
Albert Chow, co-founder and CEO of Toronto-based Silk & Snow, which makes mattresses, furniture and bedding, said the political climate has driven many more questions about where products are coming from, with some people caring about whether a product was made in the country in addition to whether the company is based there. He said, for his brand, he hasn’t felt a need to do specific marketing or advertising, as the company had already been focused on being transparent about where its products are coming from, listing the source of each component of its products on its product pages.
For example, on its mattresses, the brand lists that its foams are produced by a local foam manufacturer, that all the sewing is done by an artisanal quilting company and that the fabric is produced by local textile company S&S Mattress — all are based in Toronto.
“We’ve been fully transparent about that in the entirety of the supply chain, so I’d like to think the market is coming toward us at this point,” Chow said. “We haven’t had to really lean into shouting at the top of the rooftops that we’re Canadian to Canadian consumers.”
Chow said he has seen better-than-forecasted sales figures this year but that it’s unclear how much of it can be attributed to the patriotic buying movement.
Even if the U.S. and Canada come to a resolution and the tariff threat goes away, David Soberman, a marketing professor in the Joseph L. Rotman School of Management at University of Toronto, said he expects Canadians’ approach to making shopping decisions to change for good.
“People are going to be thinking about this a lot more than they ever did before, and that’s going to have a long-term effect,” Soberman said. Still, if the tariffs do play out, he believes some Canadian companies will lose a lot more business than they will gain, especially if most of their business is in the U.S.
“It should be the ‘don’t buy American’ movement,” Soberman said, playing on calls to “buy Canadian,” He added that Canadians shouldn’t punish products coming from other countries like Mexico, Argentina, France or Japan. “It seems like the main objective of this movement should be to make ourselves more resilient from American tariffs,” he said.