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More US companies are saying that retailers are turning away their products as 'Buy Canadian" grows

More US companies are saying that retailers are turning away their products as 'Buy Canadian" grows

The "Buy Canadian' movement has sent new waves of concern to the U.S. consumer companies who had hoped to sell their products in Canadian retail stores.

Jessica Hung, CEO of California-based Parasol Co, said that the company has been working with a distributor since January to increase sales to new retailers, including convenience shops, in Canada.

Hung said that the distributor, whom she declined to identify, had stopped working on the deal in early March due to the growing anti-American sentiment? Canada.

Hung, referring the distributor, said that "they were instructed by a retail to pause any American-brand launch." They told us that they would reevaluate the situation when the market conditions permit.

Hung said, "That is a disruption that we never expected." I never heard about this until now. "It's definitely a lot of headwinds."

The dramatic reorganization of Canada's shelves demonstrates the impact of patriotic consumerism in Canada. In 2024, Canada imported almost $350 billion worth of goods from the United States, making the United States its largest trading partner. The annexation of Canada by U.S. president Donald Trump, the 25% tax on Canadian steel and aluminum and the threat to tax other products from Canada have led many Canadians to avoid buying U.S. made goods.

Hung stated that Parasol, a company which sells mainly online and in Target stores in the U.S.A., is working to label its packages in French in order to appeal more directly to Canadian consumers. Hung said that she has already started making decisions on which products will be included in the Canada distribution agreement, now scrapped.

Shopper Rebecca Asselin, a mom and health insurance professional from Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, has been using social media to share her story about her search for Canadian products.

She said she switched to Royale diapers made by Irving Personal Care in Moncton (New Brunswick), one of Canada's only manufacturers of baby training pants and diapers. I never thought about where diapers are made before, but it seems that Canadian diapers can be hard to find. This is a major change for us."

Irving Personal Care says retailers from across Canada have reached out to discuss the possibility of increasing distribution.

Jason McAllister is Irving Personal Care's Vice President of Business Operations. He said that weekly shipments had quadrupled.

Companies say that the Buy Canadian campaign is hurting more than just one business. It also affects drinks and citrus fruits from the U.S. Brown Forman, the maker of Jack Daniel's, said that in early March that the removal from Canadian stores of American bourbons and whiskeys was worse than Canada's tariffs.

Early March, a source familiar with Californian citrus exports said that Canadian retailers had cancelled their orders.

GT's Living Foods in Los Angeles, California and its Synergy Kombucha products are known. They said that retailers in Canada including Walmart have placed fewer orders because of the uncertainty surrounding tariffs.

The distributors of Walmart Canada, Loblaw's Metro, and Sobey's have told us that they will only buy one truck of product instead of two, as retailers are cautious and waiting to see what the outcome of this (tariff) situation will be," said Daniel Bukowski. He managed these accounts for GT's Living Foods while serving as senior vice president for sales.

Walmart stated that it will "continue to work closely with its suppliers to find the most effective way forward in these uncertain times."

Loblaw's & Sobey's have not responded to our requests for comments.

Metro prioritizes Canadian local products when possible. Metro said it prioritizes local Canadian products whenever possible.

Demeter Fragrances is a small, family-owned business in Pennsylvania that produces perfumes. It has announced it will not expand to Canada by 2025. Mark Crames is the chief executive officer of Demeter Fragrances. He said that Canadians have turned away from American products. "It seems to be a waste of time and effort, so we scrapped it."

According to Vice President Tracy Hayes, Grime Eater Products Limited is a Canadian manufacturer that produces Response and Luster Sheen products. The company has been unsuccessfully trying to convince Canadian Tire to carry its products for many years.

She said that the future is promising with the Buy Canadian movement spreading.

She learned that Canadian Tire, which operates 504 stores across Canada, was planning to reduce its offering of Fast Orange, the hand cleaner brand produced by Permatex, her U.S. competitor.

Permatex and Canadian Tire did not respond to requests for comment. (Reporting from Siddharth Cavale in New York, and Nivedita Bali in Toronto; Additional reporting by Jessica DiNapoli; Editing by Aurora Ellis.)

(source: Reuters)