Cranberry juice, anyone? How the trade war will affect your breakfast table (and many other things)

As Day 2 of the tariff war with the United States dawns over Canada, residents may be contemplating over breakfast what they can do to help. 

"Well, I think that you may reconsider your orange juice for sure," said Sylvain Charlebois, a professor and director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University. 

Now that tariffs have been imposed, Charlebois said the most effective thing Canadians can do is to continue to support Canadian products. 

"Right now you're seeing a populace rejecting America at the grocery store and sales [of American products] are down five per cent in a month."

And that was before tariffs were imposed. Charlebois expects "the momentum will only grow" now that tariffs are a reality. 

By not buying American, Charlebois said, consumers will "de-Americanize" grocery stores, and that includes a lot of produce and processed goods.  

So when it comes to breakfast, for example, there are a lot of options for New Brunswickers, said David Campbell, an economic development consultant and a former chief economist for the New Brunswick government. 

"A breakfast that is immune from tariffs would include blueberry juice or cranberry juice — we produce a lot of cranberries here in the province. It would include locally sourced beef or pork products."

Eggs and dairy products are also on the safe-from-tariffs breakfast, said Campbell. 

"So there's lots of ways we could buy local. It might be a little more expensive than it was in the past, but it would be less exposed to the challenges now we're facing with the United States."

While it helps to buy local, New Brunswickers simply can't come close to buying enough to make up for the potential loss of U.S. customers, said Campbell. 

For example, New Brunswick produces "enough two-by-fours to serve the entire Canadian market."

"We produce a whole lot more lobster and blueberries and potatoes than we would ever need here in the province — maple syrup. We absolutely have to have export markets for those goods."

And there are some products that we just can't get in Canada, like vehicles, said Campbell. And those things just got more expensive overnight. 

Jobs are also at risk, said Campbell. 

The province estimates that 35,000 jobs in the province are linked to exports to the U.S. and expects 4,000 to 6,000 of them could be lost as a result of the tariffs.

• Everything you want to know about the Canada-U.S. tariffs

"About a third of all private sector jobs in New Brunswick are directly in export sectors," said Campbell. 

"So those are industries like manufacturing, but also agriculture and service industries that export goods and services to the U.S. and other countries … And so if you're in one of those sectors, there's an increasing chance that your job will be directly affected," he said. 

"It's one thing to say we're going to pay more for orange juice but if we start losing our big manufacturing companies and our big exporters, that's going to be really hard on the economy."

Campbell said New Brunswickers should "go about your business and if possible, try to buy Canadian."

A lot of local markets are already feeling the impact of that sentiment. 

Dan Cullen, the owner of Dan's Country Market in Saint John, is one of them. For the last few weeks, he's been noticing customers spending a lot more time looking at the labels and asking whether things are made in Canada. 

"It's definitely increased sales for sure with the support-local movement," he said. 

Cullen estimates that about 99 per cent of his products are made in Canada. The exception is some pop, candy and produce. 

When he can, Cullen tries to avoid buying from the United States. At the moment, it's easy because he's able to get a lot of tropical fruit, including oranges and grapes, from other places. 

The one notable exception is lettuce, which does come from the U.S. because it's a lot cheaper than from a Canadian greenhouse.

Whether he continues to purchase American lettuce, and other produce, will depend on his customers and whether they're willing to buy it, or whether they prefer to buy the more expensive grown-in-Canada option.