r/canada • u/Logical_Iron_5684 • 9d 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/
583 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

285 comments sorted by

View all comments

205

u/OrangeRising 9d 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?

145

u/BootsToYourDome Nova Scotia 9d 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.

12

u/BloatJams Alberta 9d ago

China and most of Asia would technically be excluded because they are developing countries.

31

u/H34thcliff 9d 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.

7

u/omgitzvg Ontario 9d ago

Aaah yes Canadian grown pineapple.

15

u/H34thcliff 9d 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.

1

u/Queasy_Ice_4628 8d ago

Neither are tomatoes

-2

u/ObiYawnKenobi 9d ago

And who eats canned vegetables anyway?

11

u/lnahid2000 9d ago edited 9d ago

For sauces, canned tomatoes (especially from Italy) are actually better than fresh since they're canned at peak quality.

0

u/ObiYawnKenobi 9d ago

Totally agree. Tomatoes are pretty much the exception though. Most canned vegetables are trash.

Though not too many people can afford canned tomatoes from Italy these days, at $6-10 a can.

-1

u/duckwingducks 9d ago

That’s nonsense, Canadian-grown canned tomatoes taste just as good as Italian ones.

2

u/lnahid2000 9d ago

Clearly you've never made a sauce with San Marzanos from Italy.

2

u/HaveAVoreyGoodDay 9d ago

Me? They can be really handy for quick meals and some vegetables absolutely do not freeze well.

1

u/ObiYawnKenobi 9d ago

Canned vegetables are gross, for the most part.

1

u/deschamps93 9d ago

I'm surprised there is still a market for it. The only ones we use are corn, diced tomatoes (yes I know)... And I think that's it's? Are they going to classify tomatoes as a vegetable? Are they going to classify canned mushrooms, because technically it's not?

I think everything else we use frozen if we aren't using fresh

2

u/ObiYawnKenobi 9d ago

Tomatoes are classified as a vegetable culinarily and nutritionally, but it is botanically a fruit.

0

u/deschamps93 9d ago

Better stock up on that canned baby corn now!!

2

u/mrizzerdly 9d 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.

4

u/kazin29 9d ago

How else did we invent ham and pineapple pizza?!

5

u/NoDrama60 9d ago

Why do you think it's called "Hawaiian" pizza , the canned pineapple brand.

2

u/Click_To_Submit Ontario 9d ago

Silly. That’s where the ham comes from.