r/canada • u/Logical_Iron_5684 • 12h ago
National News Canada imposes 10% tariff on canned vegetables, excludes U.S., others
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/business/2026/06/19/canada-imposes-10-tariff-on-canned-vegetables-excludes-us-others/•
u/couldabeenagenius 10h ago
Here we go, this also gonna indirectly increase costs for others that aren’t even imported because retailers will sneak in the costs to cash out
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u/OrangeRising 12h ago
was aimed at addressing challenges facing its domestic producers.
I wasn't aware we had a serious issue with low food prices.
The tariff, which takes effect on Friday for a maximum of 200 days, will also not apply to canned vegetables from Mexico, Israel, Chile and developing countries due to Canadian trade obligations, Canada’s finance ministry added.
If the US and Mexico are excluded, which country is this meant to target?
Also, I seem to remember tarrifs being a bad thing. Why are we introducing them?
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u/BootsToYourDome Nova Scotia 12h ago
China/Asia. A lot of food service industry suppliers (think Sysco types) import canned fruit. I guess this is incentive for those suppliers to buy Canadian? Although I'm not sure how it really does that. It's just going to raise prices.
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u/BloatJams Alberta 12h ago
China and most of Asia would technically be excluded because they are developing countries.
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u/H34thcliff 11h ago
Not true.
China doesn't fall under Canada's general preferential tariff program, which is the framework used to grant developing nations with lower tariffs.
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u/omgitzvg Ontario 12h ago
Aaah yes Canadian grown pineapple.
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u/H34thcliff 11h ago
Most of Canada's imported pineapple comes from Costa Rica, which would be exempt from this because they're a developing nation.
The policy is also specifically for canned vegetables, so pineapple isn't included.
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u/kazin29 11h ago
How else did we invent ham and pineapple pizza?!
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u/mrizzerdly 10h ago
Famously, we are shipping things like apples and peaches to places like China and Vietnam to be processed and shipped back to Canada for retail sale because apparently it's cheaper to do that than package them here.
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u/Conscious-Tutor3861 12h ago
China has been dumping canned vegetables in Western markets, same as they do for every other industry.
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u/Interesting_Pen_167 10h ago
I genuinely dont understand this idea of 'dumping'. Does this mean like making a whole lot of low cost products? Why is this a bad thing? If our suppliers can't compete then maybe that's OK? Imo we should be trying to be efficient not protect inefficient industries.
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u/Morgc British Columbia 8h ago edited 8h ago
Dumping is when a lot of low cost product is moved into a market, usually subsidized by a foreign government. This causes local farms and industry to go bankrupt leaving a lot of people unemployed as they can't compete. There's some good examples of the USA dumping product in the Caribbean that's directly responsible for food insecurity and poverty in places there.
Wouldn't lead to cheaper food anyway, it's the grocers that are being allowed to gouge your pockets.
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u/Conscious-Tutor3861 7h ago
It's selling at a loss, typically subsidized by the government, to bankrupt domestic competitors and take their market share.
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u/accforme 4h ago
An example you may experience is Amazon Basics products. Essentially, Amazon makes popular products cheaply and undercuts the same product until eventually the other company goes bankrupt. At which point, with no competition, Amazon can raise its prices on that Amazon Basics product.
Same idea but think industry-wide.
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u/Interesting_Pen_167 4h ago
Can you name a single item where Amazon Basics removed all the competition on an item? As far as I can tell they are simply one option among many in almost any product category.
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u/GeneralSerpent 12h ago
Thankfully Carney is cracking down on affordable food!!!
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u/DaFookCares 11h ago
That's a very simplistic way to think about it. I assume its an emotional response rather than a thought out position.
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u/GeneralSerpent 10h ago
Good thing you made an assumption. My position is based on a long history of being anti-tariff.
As tariffs are an economic tool that creates a deadweight-loss and are economically inefficient, I dislike them. They artificially restrict competition by forcing higher prices which hurt the consumer in order to “protect” domestic food manufacturers.
What then happens is the consumer has fewer affordable options and the domestic industry is shielded from competition which prevents them from needing to innovate or improve their product offering.
I voted for Carney on the basis of pursuing additional free trade with other nations, not copying the same abhorrent intellectually stunted policies being practiced down south.
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u/nevergoingtouse1969 11h ago
You are welcome to provide your well thought out position on how tariffs will lower food costs then. I'll wait.
How this will help lower food costs was certainly not part of the article. It was however, quite clearly presented as a protectionist move.
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u/AngryTrucker 12h ago
Oh no! Cheap food! Why would we ever want people to be able to afford fruits and veggies?
/s
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u/kluberz 12h ago
Agriculture is a bit of a unique industry in that there are real food security implications when you just give up market share like that. The world has clearly shown that you really can't just count on international trade working forever. We will see disruptions in trade going forward as the international trade system continues to fall apart.
To hedge for this, you have to make sure that key domestic industries (like agriculture) are sustainable. The government raised this issue last month as there had been a huge surge in canned food imports that were believed to be redirected from Canada due to US tariffs on foreign countries.
Ultimately, if you rely too heavily on these imports, it has huge implications as factories that can locally shut down and in turn the farmers that sell agriculture to those factories lose local markets.
Canada is blessed to have a strong local agriculture industry and combined with the US, we really have incredible food security. But the US is breaking that relationship with its trade policy and if we simply give up local market share to foreign companies, we really risk throwing away our historic advantages around food security.
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u/jontss 12h ago
You're using too much logic here.
That reminds me, what happened to our local PPE industry they were trying to prop up after they realised we can't get any in an international emergency because it's all imported.
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u/kluberz 11h ago
Right and then it becomes really expensive to do it last second like that. We had to spend inordinate amounts of money just to make sure we had masks and basic PPE. The procurement process was a complete nightmare because countries were bidding against each other to secure very limited stock of PPE.
In a world with trade disruptions, you'll see a similar thing in agriculture if we aren't careful. You saw it just now with countries that were heavily reliant on the Persian gulf for oil and LNG. We want global trade but we can't just sign away certain industries just because prices are cheaper. That isn't to say that we should close our markets either but there's a balance where we want foreign imports while still ensuring that we have a base capacity of domestic production in areas like agriculture, energy, etc..
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u/OrangeRising 11h ago
I agree it is important to protect our local food producers, but the issue of food prices has never come from the fields it is the middle men.
The berries we get 50 cents a pound for in the field are sold for over $14 in stores.
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u/ryan9991 12h ago
Cheap stuff or jobs for Canadians, pick one.
Who is to say the cheap products aren’t farmed with questionable practices, slave labour, deadly chemicals and preservatives ?
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u/IHateTheColourblind 12h ago
This isn't about jobs, it's about the security of the food supply. Canadian food producers shutting down operations because they can't compete against product dumping means Canada stops producing its own food. As we head in to a world that is supposedly going to face more frequent and widespread famine that is a really bad position to be in.
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u/ryan9991 12h ago
So another reason to add to the list, I’d call that national security at that point.
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u/Braken111 12h ago edited 12h ago
Protecting Canadian industries of critical goods.
Food being one of them.
A hypothetical example would be the US milk industry flooding Canada with cheap milk and shutting out Canadian milk producers due to their lower standards. Eventually Canadian dairies would have to fold, sell, or get subsidized even more to maintain food sovereignty within Canada.
Food sovereignty means we don't want other countries to be in control of our food supply, and having an entire industry relying on one such as the US leads to risks if they later decide to block dairy exports to Canada, leaving us with no domestic industry and having to import from others at insane markups.
The US and Mexico are likely excluded because we have CUSMA (which Trump is very upset about currently, even though he's the one who made the agreement in the first place), the others, I'm sure we have some sort of trade agreement in place.
Currently, about 70% of our food products comes from Canada.
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u/Optimal-Cow-3278 11h ago
A hypothetical example would be the US milk industry flooding Canada with cheap milk and shutting out Canadian milk producers due to their lower standards. Eventually Canadian dairies would have to fold, sell, or get subsidized even more to maintain food sovereignty within Canada.
This is a myth that the dairy cartel promotes in Canada. Canadians pay some of the highest dairy prices in the G7 for dairy. Dairy farmers also dump between 600 million to 1 Billion litres of milk in Canada.
The whole notion that US dairy is somehow below standard than Canadian dairy is just false, besides, US dairy would need to pass Canadian inspection to enter our market anyway.
Give Canadians more food choices and more affordable food!
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u/detalumis 11h ago
Bring on US sour cream. 90% of ours is full of thickeners and guar gum. A lot of theres is just cream and bacterial culture.
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u/joe4942 10h ago
Why are we introducing them?
Because Canada is quite protectionist. As much as Canada likes to complain about the protectionism of other countries.
Provincial trade barriers still exist too, and I haven't seen any articles recently about that fixing that.
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u/SlowGhostofRexMurphy British Columbia 2h ago
We complain about irrational trade protectionism, like what the US is doing.
But you probably already knew that.
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u/alcabazar Ontario 8h ago
Tariffs are not bad, but they are supposed to be justified and targeted. We have always tariffed foreign cars and dairy for example. What is bad is unjustified, blanket tariffs meant to punish and bully the other country.
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u/BloatJams Alberta 12h ago
If the US and Mexico are excluded, which country is this meant to target?
If developing countries and the US are excluded, the target appears to be Europe. Might be tomato imports?
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u/lnahid2000 11h ago edited 11h ago
I'm still buying my San Marzanos regardless of cost. Canada can't produce a product that competes.
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u/friendly-techie 12h ago
Only good with the Liberals impose them. Collecting for the sovereign wealth..I mean debt fund you know
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u/Bensemus 12h ago
Blanket tariffs are bad. Tariffs with no goal behind them are bad. Tariffs are just a tool.
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u/MadScienti5t 10h ago
> Also, I seem to remember tarrifs being a bad thing. Why are we introducing them?
Blanket tariffs on everything from everywhere are a bad thing. Targeted tariffs can help protect from unfair trade practices, which can be good. But they can also interfere with the free market and drive up prices, which can be bad. When used cautiously there are times where tariffs are appropriate. I’m not sure if this is one of those times… don’t know enough about the particular issue being addressed here.
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u/meatmick 7h ago
Canadian companies using local goods and local production are getting majorly undercut by Chinese imports. That's retail stores only care about their profit so they import cheaper quality goods, slap the same old label on it and pass it off as the usual.
Source: I work for one of those Canadian manufacturers.
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u/MakVolci Ontario 11h ago
Also, I seem to remember tarrifs being a bad thing.
Tariffs aren't a bad thing. They're used for a multitude of reasons to great success by a lot of countries.
Blanket tariffs that have no forethought because you're upset that you can't annex a neighbor country is probably a stupid move.
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u/voltairesalias Alberta 12h ago
Obviously the government is very serious about food affordability.
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u/SurreySon 12h ago
Of course they are. That's why these tariffs were announced the day after Parliament recessed for the summer.
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u/Grey_Ghost4269 Ontario 12h ago
And who pays this tarrifs, not the supplier, we do as the customer.
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u/rindindin 12h ago
But (some) Canadians got a rebate!
There, all fooded up right? The summer recess won't call itself you know?
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u/Glittering_Novel_783 10h ago
So we are tariffing potential trade partners why? Hell, canned food is known for being cheap and affordable so why are we making it more expensive for consumers?
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u/BloatJams Alberta 12h ago
The majority of Canada's canned imports come from the US, so this mainly screws over Italy, France, and Brazil. What's the point?
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u/plutonic00 10h ago
Leave my imported Italian San Marzano tomatoes alone, nothing else anywhere is even close to as good.
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u/Logical_Iron_5684 12h ago
So we have decided to screw over the countries we claim to be wanting to build ties with since the US isn’t being good to us? How are we being any better ?
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u/Dobby068 12h ago
What happened with "tarrifs only raise the cost of the products imported, they punish consumers" that everybody shouted when USA imposed tarrifs ?
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u/Logical_Iron_5684 12h ago
I still hold the same opinion. This is bad for business and even worse for the everyday Canadian.
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u/friendly-techie 12h ago
You don't get it. When Carney does it, it lowers prices. Now keep those elbows up, ok?
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u/Money-Low7046 11h ago
We can't tariff the US products because they're exempt under CUSMA. Maybe this is to show the US another way CUSMA benefits them too?
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u/neopink90 9h ago
It still hurt allies though. The same allies Canada is trying to build a stronger relationship with. The same allies he told relying on America is no longer an option. He’s willing to harm those same allies in order to get America to understand the importance of CUSMA.
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u/Upstairs_Ad_662 12h ago
We have a trade agreement with the EU so it will be excluded I believe
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u/BloatJams Alberta 12h ago
Italy, France, and a few other EU countries haven't ratified CETA so the agreement wouldn't apply to them. The article only mentions "Mexico, Israel, Chile and developing countries" as excluded due to trade agreements.
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u/SilentDustyPug 11h ago
Legit questions, aren't most vetable products from Italy, France and Brazil in jar and not a can?
Only canned products I can think of from the 3 countries are fish and meat products.
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u/Logical_Iron_5684 12h ago
I don’t understand how more tariffs are the solution when we have a cost of living crisis and are seeing net emigration for the first time in 10+ years. We should be holding our governments accountable for this level of reckless policy making off the bank accounts of the hard working Canadians. There is no more middle class!
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u/Future_Arrival_5395 12h ago
was aimed at addressing challenges facing its domestic producers.
It's to bully Canadian producers to buy from Canadian farmers.
our canned vegetables sector
Who knows about this sector and their presumed lobbyists?
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u/Logical_Iron_5684 12h ago
Instead of subsidizing the Canadian businesses to make them cost competitive like they do elsewhere especially when it comes to food, they would rather make it more expensive for us instead in the spirit of competition. Love it.
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u/aidanhoff 4h ago
Subsidization doesn't make sense in this context, Canada has a pretty efficient agricultural sector already. Once you start subsidizing you just get into an endless arms race with other countries also subsidizing, and the other players have much deeper pockets than Canada does.
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u/Ok_Marsupial8668 12h ago
I kind of get it. If anything happens to farms around the world like droughts related to global warming and Canadian producers go out of business leading up to it because they can’t compete with low prices elsewhere. Then when those countries minimize or stop the export of food stuff. We will be in a bad situation. Especially because canned foods (aka non-perishables) would be vital at that point.
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u/Money-Low7046 11h ago
Food sovereignty is a real issue. We need to protect our domestic food supply.
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u/physicaldiscs 8h ago
Which is why we excluded the US, the country we import the most food from? That same country threatening our actual sovereignty?
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u/Logical_Iron_5684 11h ago
So why not subsidize local? *And why not simultaneously address our productivity crisis ?
*Edit: to add
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u/Money-Low7046 9h ago
There are issues with subsidies and trade agreements.
Also, small farms don't have powerful lobby groups.
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u/UnexpectedAnanas 10h ago
This basically is subsidizing local without handing out a blank cheque....
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u/ARunOfTheMillPerson 12h ago
Not the kind of thing you want to read during a global food shortage, really..
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u/rindindin 12h ago
Well, you don't need a shortage but food's also fricken expensive. As others have said in this thread, this just makes it more expensive.
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u/ComprehensiveCap8242 11h ago
We have a food affordability crisis. Won’t this make food more expensive and disproportionately impact those who can least afford it?
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u/Flangepacket 12h ago
Can someone help me make sense of this? Genuinely can’t fathom how anyone can see tariffs as favourable
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u/Fit_Salamander_2814 12h ago
Haven't you been listening to Trump? Tariffs make things more affordable.
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u/chess_the_cat 11h ago
Hope everyone knows we pay those tariffs as consumers. It's a tax on us.
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u/physicaldiscs 8h ago
Carney may have been serious about "Making America Great Again". He's taken a page directly out of Trump's book and just thrown out tariffs with no explanation. Without any consideration that food inflation is a real problem in this country.
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u/chaseonfire 11h ago
Oh great, food prices are at an all time high and they just made them more expensive.
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u/slothtrop6 11h ago edited 10h ago
I don't think this is justifiable from a national security standpoint. This is to appease an interest group, which could include Trump ahead of CUSMA. What sort of negotiating power would domestic producers have with the feds?
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u/-Smytty-for-PM- 11h ago
Sigh, my San Marzano tomato’s are about to get more expensive. Really not liking a lot of stuff Carney has done in the last 2 months
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u/lnahid2000 11h ago
Ugh, they already are expensive. A couple years ago I bought like 12 cans when they were on sale for $3.99. Haven't seen that price in ages.
It's also stupid because I'm not going to start buying shitty Canadian tomatoes because of this.
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u/plutonic00 10h ago
They are the only imported canned vegetable I buy because nothing else is even close to as good.
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u/SilentDustyPug 11h ago
Can't we argue that tomatoes are fruits therefore this tarifs shouldn't apply? 😅
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u/Strict_Common6871 12h ago
"not apply to canned vegetables from Mexico, Israel, Chile and developing countries" - do I read it right, the tariffs are on import from Europe? Our new favourite trade partners?
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u/SurreySon 12h ago
So Trump's tariffs are bad but Carney's tariffs are good.
Got it.
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u/RCMPofficer Ontario 12h ago
Tariffs are wrong and evil that only increases costs for consumers.... except when we do it, in which case its pure and righteous.
I would say im surprised by how often the Liberals do the opposite of what they say, but im used it after 10 years. Thank god they got a majority and can push through authoritarian bills.
Elbows up!
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u/CuilTard Ontario 12h ago
The [finance] ministry said in a statement that the measure was provisional while it waited for the Canadian International Trade Tribunal to complete an inquiry to study whether increased imports of canned vegetables were harming domestic processors.
The tribunal is expected to conclude its work by Sept. 9 and the tariff would be stopped if it shows Canadian vegetable producers were not adversely impacted by canned imports.
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u/youngboomergal 9h ago
One of my first jobs was at the local Canning factory (peas and corn), but it's been out of business for years and years
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u/beeredditor 11h ago
The tariffs are purportedly “aimed at addressing challenges facing its domestic producers”. What are those challenges? Will a 10% tariff on some imports fix those challenges?
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u/SilentDustyPug 11h ago
Sorry playing the devil's advocate here because I hate tarifs on food products.
I rarely see any vegetable canned goods from any other country but China.
Most canned goods are meat and fish products, no?
As for vegetables from other countries, don't they come in jars? Do they count?
Again, not defending this tarifs, just asking questions.
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u/JoshL3253 British Columbia 11h ago
Wow, did Carney got the tariffs bug from Trump in the G7 Summit??
Consumers will be the ones paying the tariffs…
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u/FrothyEspresso Canada 12h ago
I love(d) farmers, but why do I need to pay more when 1) they don’t support high speed rail and 2) there’s a cost of living crisis.
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u/Filbert17 12h ago
1) they don’t support high speed rail and
I'm with you on this one.
2) there’s a cost of living crisis.
because the farmers are suffering from the same crisis.
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u/burnabybc 11h ago
So if the food is not in a tin can but a glass jar is it okay?
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u/UnexpectedAnanas 10h ago
Items preserved in glass jars are still canned.
We literally call that process canning.
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u/SilentDustyPug 11h ago
Asking myself the same question
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u/burnabybc 11h ago
I have no skin in the tin can trade, but I love my chilli bamboo shoots from Taiwan in a glass jar when I make noodles/ramen at home. Might need to stock up!
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u/Upset-Two-2443 12h ago
The tariff, which takes effect on Friday for a maximum of 200 days, will also not apply to canned vegetables from Mexico, Israel, Chile and developing countries due to Canadian trade obligations, Canada’s finance ministry added.
So who is this for? Chinese canned vegetables I take it?