After several weeks, the roller coaster ride of President Trump’s tariffs on Canada is having an effect. Affordability has become a major issue in Canada’s election campaign as tariffs are now being felt in grocery stores, from food to canned products. Canadians have been fighting back, buying locally or buying Canadian, and refusing to travel or vacation in the US.
One of the biggest issues so far has been the cost of living. Many Canadians say the cost of groceries has been climbing so much over the past year that many can barely afford to feed their families, and now tariffs are adding to that concern.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford recently helped out at the Daily Bread Food Bank in Toronto, which is seeing record use by residents. Ford used the example of canned food to make his point about tariffs on aluminum products, which he blames on Trump.
“So, because of his tariffs, and I don’t know if you saw Unico or any other company, they’re getting a 25 percent down tariff in the US because they get their tins manufactured, 25 percent more,” Ford said. “So, the packaging is 50 percent more. I’ve directed my minister of economic development, do you believe we don’t make cans anywhere in Canada, well this is going to change.”
Ford was joined by Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow. Some 200 volunteers helped to package more than twenty thousand pounds of food for those in need. Chow had high praise for their work.
“What you’re doing is so heartwarming because it is something distinctly Canadian. We take care of each other. We have each other's back, which is why we are never going to be the fifty-first state of America,” Chow said.
Food prices are just one aspect of how the tariffs are being added to the cost of living. The Director of the Food Bank said more than one million people in Toronto rely on donations from the Daily Bread Food Bank.
And it’s not just grocery prices, there are other impacts of the tariffs on Canada’s economy, said Candace Laing with the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.
“This is still just a huge issue for Canadians and when we look at the tariffs there are several buckets of them. Obviously, the sectoral tariffs are taking their toll on Canadian communities, some more than others. We know that hit auto and steel and aluminum and there are more to come, but let’s not forget about what I call the boomerang tariffs that are hitting our agricultural sector as well. This is having a massive impact on our canola and our pea producers and our pork producers and seafood,” Laing said.
There has been one bright spot in all this, said Colin Mang, an economist with McMaster University.
“This turned out to be really important for the oil sector because the Chinese have drastically cut back their purchasing of American oil and they’ve turned to Canada instead. Last month we exported about 7 million barrels of oil to China, by far our largest ever. So, folks out in Alberta are benefiting from this,” Mang said.
Still, it’s early days in the trade war. Already, President Trump is hinting that it’s time the 25 percent tariffs on cars imported from Canada were increased.
