U.S. companies say Canadian retailers are turning away products

Amid the "Buy Canadian" movement, some U.S. companies say retailers in Canada have been turning away their products or halting planned deals.

The “Buy Canadian” movement is sending new ripples of concern through the executive offices of U.S.-based consumer companies that banked on selling their products on Canadian retail shelves.

California-based diaper maker Parasol Co had been working since January with a distributor to expand the sale of its diapers and baby wipes to new retailers in Canada, including convenience stores, CEO Jessica Hung said.

But, in early March the distributor, who Hung declined to name, halted work on the deal, she said, because of growing anti-American sentiment in  Canada.

“They were instructed by a retailer to pause any American brand launch,” Hung said, referring to the distributor. “They told us they would re-evaluate when market conditions allow.”

“That’s the kind of disruption we would never expect,” said Hung. “I never heard of this happening until now. It’s definitely quite a bit of headwinds.”

A dramatic reshuffling of Canada’s retail shelves illustrates the impact of patriotic consumerism in Canada, which imported nearly US$350 billion of products from the United States in 2024, making it its largest trading partner.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s jabs to annex Canada, the imposition of a 25 per cent levy on steel and aluminum from Canada and threats to tax all other imports from the country have prompted a rallying cry among many Canadian shoppers to eschew U.S.-made products.

Parasol, which sells its products primarily online and at Target stores in the U.S., was working on labeling its packages in French for Canadian shoppers, Hung said. She added that she had already begun making decisions about which specific products would be part of the now-scrapped Canada distribution agreement.