Are you paying more than before to buy Canadian?; Tariff travel trauma: CBC's Marketplace Cheat Sheet

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Are you paying more than before to buy Canadian? Experts say it's complicated

In late January, then-prime minister Justin Trudeau and the country's premiers urged people to "choose Canada" by purchasing Canadian products amid the growing threat of U.S. tariffs.

"There are many ways for you to do your part," Trudeau said on Jan. 22. "It might mean checking the labels and picking Canadian-made products."

With U.S. tariffs now in place and counter-tariffs in effect, shoppers who took that message to heart are scrutinizing labels — and, at the same time, many are asking the question: Is there a premium on patriotism? Marketplace has received dozens of messages in recent weeks from consumers wondering if they're now paying more for the same products because they're, to varying degrees, Canadian.

"I would like an investigation [to see] if 'Buy Canadian' is just another fancy marketing tactic," wrote one user on Reddit.

Another sent us an email saying they feel like "Canadian items have gone up in price, some seem to increase weekly."

So Marketplace analyzed the prices of thousands of grocery products labelled as Canadian at one downtown Toronto Loblaws store from the start of the year. 

While nine out of 10 products remained the same price — and about two per cent decreased in price — Marketplace found the regular price of hundreds of products have increased since governments put out the call to buy food made in Canada, including some very Canadian products, including tourtière and hot chocolate mix.

Marketplace spoke with several economists who all said it's impossible to know for sure if a premium is being applied to these quintessentially Canadian products as demand soars at home for Canadian products, because many factors — like how processed an item is and whether it's affected by U.S. levies — are at play when it comes to pricing. They came to different conclusions about whether the demand for Canadian products might explain the price hike. Manufacturers say it's the grocers who decide the price tag and the grocer, Loblaw, denies raising grocery prices due to the demand to buy Canadian. Read more

'We look a little stupid,' says Quebec manufacturer stung by Canada's counter-tariffs

Ask Louis Lafleur how he's feeling about American tariffs and his response comes quickly.

"Ask me how I feel about Canadian tariffs!"

Lafleur is the president of Les Boisés Lafleur, in Victoriaville, Que., 140 kilometres northeast of Montreal. The company makes wood veneers: thin sheets of a wide variety of species — maple, ash, eucalyptus — that are then applied to plywood used for countertops and furniture.

When talk of U.S. tariffs began shortly after the presidential inauguration in January, Lafleur started losing sleep. He exports three-quarters of his finished product to the U.S. and was dreading duties.

At first, his American clients, who were convinced tariffs wouldn't stay in place long, said they'd pay a little more to help absorb the hit.

The U.S. tariffs on his exports haven't materialized, but in February, before he left office, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a counter-tariff on $30 billion worth of goods entering Canada from the U.S. — including the category of wood Lafleur uses for his veneers.

He imports all of his wood from the U.S., and he's been paying a 25 per cent duty on those imports since March 4.

"My clients are saying, 'Now you're complaining because your government [adds] a tariff?' We look a little stupid," Lafleur says. Read more

Canadian travel to the U.S. has plummeted. One reason why: fear

When political science professor Arash Abizadeh heard last month about foreign travellers being detained at the U.S. border, he cancelled plans to speak at an upcoming academic conference in Durham, N.C.

He believes heightened scrutiny at the U.S. border makes travel to the country too uncertain. 

"Why would we subject ourselves to this?" asked Abizadeh, who teaches at McGill University in Montreal. 

"We can say to ourselves, 'Well, I haven't done anything wrong,' but then you have to ask yourself questions like … 'Have I said anything on social media that the current regime might find critical of them?'"

Abizadeh joins a growing number of Canadians cancelling plans to visit the United States.

The number of return trips among Canadians travelling to the U.S. in March plummeted compared to the previous year: down by 13.5 per cent for air travel, and down by a whopping 32 per cent for land travel. Read more

Oeuf! U.S. egg prices hit record high despite Trump's claim they're 'much cheaper'

U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly boasted that he's recently brought down the price of eggs, which have reached record highs amid an outbreak of bird flu in laying hens that led to a severe egg shortage.

On Monday, Trump even turned the L.A. Dodgers' White House visit into an opportunity to praise himself and Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, claiming "eggs are down 73 per cent" as the baseball team behind him clapped politely.

And on so-called Liberation Day on April 2, as Trump announced sweeping global tariffs, he claimed Rollins brought down egg prices by more than half "once we got involved."

"They were going through the sky, the egg prices," Trump said in his address. "Now we have lots of eggs and they're much cheaper, down about 59 per cent now. And they're going down further."

But have they really? Turns out, when it comes to the price of eggs on store shelves, not so much.

U.S. egg prices increased again last month to reach a new record-high average of $6.23 US per dozen, or about $8.73 Cdn. That's up from about $5.90 US per dozen in February, and about $4.95 in January. Read more

What else is going on?

Frank And Oak to close 9 stores across Ontario, Quebec and B.C.
The Montreal-based clothing retailer filed for creditor protection late last year.

A global recession is coming, economists warn
Worldwide economic slump could set in by summer, unless Trump changes direction.

Trying to fix my combine, I need politicians who really get what farmers are facing
Older machinery is cost effective but difficult to repair. Right-to-repair legislation would help.

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Are you seeing counter-tariffs affect the price of products you buy regularly? Let us know at [email protected].

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