We’ve covered the potentially vexing issue of how to tell Canadian products from those made in the US – and now (or soon) subject to Trump tariffs. But now, Loblaw’s and the Government have addi-tional info us…
I was initially twigged to this issue by a reddit thread that complained Loblaw’s was ‘at it again’, deceiving Canadian shoppers about which popular grocery products were actually made here in Canada and which were not…
‘Signs of the times’
It turned out the touchy Redditor(s) who splashed one of those stories all over their social media platform were wrong. But I can see how it would be an easy mistake to make…
It’s all about ‘symbolism’, literally these days: literally and literarily. And I, too, was momentarily incensed when I caught sight of a photo of a can of [insert major brand name here] soup which puzzlingly showed a big red Maple Leaf directly adjacent to an equally-prominent ‘Produce of USA’ declaration.
“Well, Loblaw’s…” I huffed. “You can’t have your soup and import it, too!”
But I’m assuming Loblaw’s PR people caught the same online thread. Because I tripped over an ex-planatory post before the day was over.
Serious business…
It’s clear that Loblaw’s considers anything to do with consumer comprehension of tariff-related issues worthy of its highest priority these days. The explanation came in a LinkedIn statement late Monday by supermarket chain CEO Per Bank.
“As you would expect, we have inventory of U.S. products in our distribution centres, which we pur-chased before the tariffs went into effect,” Bank confirmed. “That means the pricing of many products will not be impacted until we sell what we already have on hand,” he added.
The first price increases due to tariffs could show up within a week or two. Those would be on fast-moving, perishable items such as fresh produce. Products that cycle through the stores relatively quickly. For other affected products, Loblaw’s expects increases to show up on store shelves in about six weeks, the company said on its website.
How can you tell?
Loblaw’s wants you to know which products in its stores are affected by tariffs. Because, in spite of the chain’s best efforts, there will be a significant number of items that can’t be sourced from within Canada or from non-US overseas suppliers.
On these, the store is planning to place a special symbol consisting of a boldface letter ‘T’, inside a white triangle, which in turn sits inside a grey box.
But there is a whole class of products that constitute another, separate category. Those consist chiefly of items that come in from the US in bulk, and are packaged and/or labelled here, for the Canadian market.
Splitting hairs…
Here’s where the hairsplitting starts.
Under Canadian law, there is a list of standards a product must meet to qualify for official ‘Product of Canada’ status. Then it can wear a ‘Product of Canada’ label (as shown, left). If the item complies with some but not all of the requirements, it can’t claim Cana-dian ‘origin’. For example, the aforementioned can of soup.
But the Red Maple Leaf – by itself – does indicate that there was at least some Canadian ‘input’ in its crea-tion. Leaving it for you to decide whether it’s ‘Canadian enough’ for you to buy. At any price.
My take
With any luck, tariffs that do make their way through the system before a truce is reached in the trade war with the US will be short lived. But, as Bank indicated, there’s a long shelf-life cycle for packaged goods. So it’s possible the war will be over before some stuff Loblaw’s brings in from the US at tariff-elevated prices hits the shelves here.
If that happens, the chain has a choice. They could try to sell the goods at an elevated price, to try to recoup the tariffs. Or, they could just drop prices back to their normal, pre-tariff levels immediately to avoid consumer backlash. For obvious PR reasons, I suspect they would take the second option.
There’s already been more consumer confusion and umbridge over tariff-related issues than the supermarket industry would have liked to see…
~ Maggie J.