By Lama Alshami
Following the implementation of tariffs on Canada by the United States (U.S.), some students at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) are making changes in the way they shop.
With the 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian products, different levels of Canadian government announced measures to support local economies. For example, Ontario Premier Doug Ford instructed the LCBO to remove American products and the City of Toronto launched a “Love Local” campaign to promote Canadian-made goods and services.
Eown Purkiss, a first-year new media student, said he’s paused his Amazon subscription in light of these tariffs. “You can get everything anywhere, you just have to look a little bit harder,” he said.
“I’m never going to think about the amount of money I spend if I feel better morally about my decision afterwards,” Purkiss added.
Shontelle Allwood, a third-year nutrition and food student, said that while she’s appreciative of the government’s initiatives to promote domestic products, she thinks they can still do more.
“There’s actually a big difference between ‘Product of Canada’ and ‘Made in Canada,’” said Allwood. “And a lot of ‘Made in Canada’ are up to 49 per cent American produce that was packaged here…it’s confusing for consumers to understand that difference.”
The Competition Bureau of Canada outlined that an item labelled “Product of Canada” must have a threshold of 98 per cent Canadian content, while “Made in Canada” items only need a threshold of 51 per cent.
According to Nicholas Li, an associate professor of economics at TMU, “Consumers don’t ever really see or observe that whole supply chain.”
Li mentioned there are intermediate inputs in international trade, where goods and services used in the production process are imported from another country. A food product could be made in a Canadian plant but the machine making it could be American, he explained.
Ashley Hannah, an American citizen and first-year new media student who has been living in Canada for over a year, said these promotions—which are a result of the tariffs—influenced her to buy Canadian services.
“Now that I’ve integrated more into Canada [and] now that I see what the U.S. is doing, it’s actually quite embarrassing and very stressful,” said Hannah.
While she intends to buy Canadian—such as switching from Netflix to Crave as a streaming subscription—she acknowledges the transition may be difficult. “I’m not exactly 100 per cent well-versed in which products are Canadian [and] which ones are American, aside from the common brands,” said Allwood.
“When I go to a store, whether that’s Metro, Sobeys, or any other store, I like that they actually have the stickers on products that say, ‘This is made in Canada,’” explained Hannah.
She is also using the subreddit r/BuyCanadian to find alternatives to American products.
Allwood operates a small business where she curates survival kits for women going through menopause. With tariffs, she stopped including anything American.
She’s also stopped shopping at Walmart and Amazon and cancelled a makeup subscription to FabFitFun, “entirely based on it [being] American.” Although Allwood’s going for a Canada-first approach, she finds herself often purchasing more expensive items to support her country, “If Canadian is not an option, I would get a different country other than the U.S.,” she said.
Li explained these behaviours reflect an international trade concept called home bias.
“Your preferences can be formed in the environment in which you live,” he said. “People look at what other people do—peer effects and consumption are important.”
He added that consumer sentiment is malleable, responding to advertising, news and politics.
In terms of feeling more patriotic amidst the tariff wars, Purkiss said, “I feel like Canada’s finally looked inward a little bit on each other.”
“Tariffs are not nice. But having a sense of community is definitely really nice to feel right now,” said Hannah.
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