Trudeau, premiers urge shoppers to buy Canadian as country prepares for a trade war

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the country’s premiers met again on Wednesday to continue crafting a strategy to hit back at President Donald Trump as the threat of U.S. trade action becomes more acute.

The first ministers met virtually to discuss developments south of the border this week, including Trump’s initial decision to hold off on imposing tariffs through an executive order only to later commit to slapping them on Canada as of Feb. 1.

As a possible trade war with the U.S. looms, Trudeau and the premiers are now furiously trying to dismantle long-standing internal barriers to make it easier to trade goods and move workers across provincial borders.

The country’s political leaders have launched a renewed effort to strip out some of the exemptions buried in the Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) to try and improve the business climate at home given the U.S. market is looking increasingly hostile.

There seems to be some agreement that divergent provincial laws around everything from alcohol sales to first-aid kits and truck tire sizes need to be scrapped to promote freer trade among the provinces.

There’s also a push from some of the premiers to launch what is, for now, an informal “Buy Canadian” campaign to encourage people to purchase Canadian goods wherever possible to try and blunt the potential impact of Ottawa’s proposed retaliatory tariffs against U.S. products.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who is leading the premiers as the current chair of the Council of the Federation, emerged from the meeting saying he’s all-in on dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs against the U.S., a policy proposal that could result in tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of American goods.

“We need to make sure it hurts the Americans as much as it hurts Canadians, ’cause it’s going to hurt Canadians right across the board,” Ford told reporters at Queen’s Park.

“We’ve got to come back strong. We need to target where it’s going to impact Americans the most — the Republican-held states in the Senate, Congress, the governors, that’s what we need to do.”

Trudeau also signalled he’s open to dollar-for-dollar tariffs while the two leading contenders to replace him, Liberal leadership hopefuls Chrystia Freeland and Mark Carney, have also endorsed that sort of policy approach.

Like Alberta’s Danielle Smith, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe signalled he’s not on board with dollar-for-dollar tariffs and he will oppose export taxes on his province’s goods.

Moe said he supports “small, targeted tariffs” that “don’t have an impact on our economy” and would strenuously oppose any broad-based tariffs on U.S. products.

As for domestic free trade, Ford said the premiers have their people to get down to business on eliminating barriers.

“This has been going on forever — enough is enough. It’s really going to help the economy,” he said.

He also endorsed speeding up the approvals process for projects like the Ring of Fire natural resources development in Ontario’s north and reviving defunct projects like the Energy East oil pipeline through Central Canada and Northern Gateway through B.C. to lessen the country’s dependence on the U.S.

According to the latest Statistics Canada data, approximately $528 billion of goods and services moved across provincial and territorial borders in 2022 — equal to 18.8 per cent of Canada’s GDP.

While estimates vary greatly, Ford said doing away with some domestic trade barriers could boost GDP between $50 billion and $100 billion a year.

Removing domestic red tape

Speaking to reporters in Halifax after the call, Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston said it’s a “no-brainer” to get rid of some protectionist policies that hamper cross-Canada trade.

He said there’s a medical devices company in the province that sells only to the U.S. because it doesn’t want to deal with the tangle of red tape to sell its products in other provinces.

It’s easier to sell these goods tariff-free under the new NAFTA than to sell in Ontario, Houston said, and that’s just unacceptable.

“Nobody wants the Trump tax so we have to use this time as a rally call to strengthen Canada — that means looking at our own internal trade policies across the country,” he said.

Ford also said Canadians should do a double-take before putting products in their grocery cart.

He urged Canadians to reach for homegrown goods over American imports when they are out shopping — and get in the habit of doing that because those U.S. products could become a lot more expensive in the coming weeks if a trade war goes ahead.

“When you look at ‘made in Canada’ or ‘made in Ontario’ products — buy them. Make sure we send a message to big retailers. Costco, Sobeys, Walmart, Metro and Loblaws. Buy Canadian products,” he said.

Trudeau said Tuesday that Canadians could opt for French’s ketchup, which is made with Canadian tomatoes, rather than competing condiments made by Heinz, which shut down its hundred-year old tomato processing plant in Leamington, Ont., leaving local farmers and workers in the lurch.

Picking Canadian products will ensure “Canadians don’t bear undo costs around tariffs,” if it comes to that, Trudeau said.

B.C. Premier David Eby is even asking people in his province to rethink their cross-border trips and vacations to the U.S. in light of Trump’s threat.

“We should really be thinking carefully about spending our money in that country,” Eby told reporters.

“We will not spend money in a country that wants to do economic harm to Canadians.”