Photo credit: Chris Robert/Unsplash
Many countries were given a reprieve this week as Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause to his 10% tariffs almost directly after they went into effect.
While Canada wasn’t subject to the latest round of levies, items not covered under the U.S.-Canada-Mexico trade agreement and automobiles, steel and aluminum are still taking a hit. And the U.S. President’s decision to apply 145% tariffs to Chinese goods on Wednesday puts Canada in an unenviable position between two global trade superpowers.
But while the situation is fraught internationally, Canadians consumers are apparently staying united in how they buy at home.
Canadian companies appear to be benefiting from the current wave of patriotic sentiment as brands such as Air Canada, Canada Post and Canadian Tire leapt up the list of most-admired companies in Leger’s 28th annual reputation survey, released Thursday.
Our “Maple Monitor” series looks at the “Buy Canadian” moments that caught our attention in the past week.
Knix moves up annual sale to counter tariffs
Knix is moving up its anniversary sale in an effort to give Canadians the chance to save before international trade winds change yet again.
Originally scheduled for next month, the Canadian undergarment and apparel brand says it will be selling select items at a discount from April 16 to 28 in hopes customers will be inclined to make discounted purchases earlier.
Knix, which recently took home Grand Prix AToMiC Award for their “Sport Your Period” campaign created alongside Rethink, says the decision to move up the anniversary sale was made to get ahead of potential cost increases on imported goods in the near future.
Nanos poll shows Canadians concerned about retaliatory-tariff backlash
Nearly three-quarters of Canadians are concerned or somewhat concerned that retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. could lead to increased trade conflict between the countries, according to a Nanos poll released in partnership with The Globe and Mail and CTV on Monday.
The survey showed that 45.1% of the population are concerned, 27.0% are somewhat concerned and 19.9% are not concerned at all. Those who were somewhat not concerned made up 4.9% of respondents and those who were unsure made up 3.0% of participants.
When it came to political leanings, Bloc supporters voiced the most concern at 63%, followed by Conservatives (46.1%), Liberals (44.2%) and New Democrats (31.1%).
Singh urges Ottawa to block sale of Rogers to Trump ally
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh on Tuesday called on Prime Minister Mark Carney to stop Stephen Schwarzman’s takeover bid of Rogers Communications.
Singh called the $7-billion minority-stake sale to Schwartzman, a New York billionaire and Trump donor, a “wake-up call” in a news release.
“Trump has already promised to use ‘economic force’ against Canada,” Singh said. “And now his allies want to buy up the systems we rely on to talk to each other, do business and respond to emergencies.”
In a letter to Carney, Singh urged the federal government to conduct a national-security review and shut down the sale.
Patriotic buys could add $10 billion to economy: BMO
A report released by Bank of Montreal on Tuesday projects that a shift in consumer attitudes toward “Buy Canadian” products could add approximately $10 billion to the Canadian economy annually and increase growth by 0.3 percentage points.
While the bank’s senior economist said that the benefits are noteworthy, there are also impracticalities to buying Canadian such as decreased selection and higher prices.
“This is a very difficult economic knot to untie. Supply chains are highly integrated, with many Canadian products seeing parts of their production and inputs sourced from outside the country,” Robert Kavcic said.
He said even though there are a number of tools that now help consumers track where items originated, buying Canadian entirely is almost impossible with 35% of household consumer goods reliant on direct and indirect imports.
