Islanders say they'll opt to buy Canadian amid tariff turmoil with U.S.
Tariffs postponed for 30 days, but what comes next is uncertain
Amid looming tariff threats, some Islanders say they're changing their shopping habits to buy more Canadian-made goods.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday afternoon that U.S. President Donald Trump will hold off levying 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods for at least 30 days after Ottawa made a series of commitments to improve security along the border.
"I'm trying to look more at what I buy and shop more Canadian, for sure," said Kim Williams, who was shopping in Charlottetown on Monday before the 30-day pause was announced.
"My husband and I are both looking at that. We check labels when we go to the grocery store and are definitely encouraging each other to stop spending money on American goods if we can."
It's not just individual shoppers who are thinking differently about how they spend their money. Local businesses and governments on P.E.I. are also reassessing how to use their purchasing power.
'Buy local, support local, love local'
The City of Charlottetown is preparing a buy-local campaign, and will encourage other municipalities to do the same, said Mayor Philip Brown.
"It is no different than COVID-19 when we used that effort to make sure that we buy local, support local, love local," Brown said. "I believe that is so important at this juncture because we need to support everything that we produce and that we sell here on Prince Edward Island, in the Atlantic region and in Canada.
"This is an opportunity that we can become more resilient and a stronger nation."
Shopping locally has always been a priority for Sabine Schoenknecht, the owner of Atlantic Mustard Mill.
Now, her business is prioritizing selling locally, too.
"Everybody has to do his own bit and decide what to do, and we decided not to ship anything to the U.S. anymore," Schoenknecht said prior to the announcement of the 30-day tariff reprieve.
"Enough is enough and if somebody threatens us, we should just take action."
While the decision to no longer sell Atlantic Mustard Mill products to the U.S. might only have a small effect, Schoenknecht said it would be worth it — even if it does result in lost revenue.
"It's like going green. If one person can just do so much, but if everybody does a little thing, that's a big impact."
Support for Islanders
It's hard to measure just what the impact would be, who would be hit hardest and how immediately help would be needed should the tariffs come into effect, Premier Dennis King said Monday before the tariff pause.
When asked if the province can afford to roll out a program to help Islanders deal with the fallout of such a situation, King said "I don't think we can afford not to."
"We have extensive experience when it comes to rolling out programs quickly to help Islanders endure some of the pain that they have dealt with, and we'll do the same here," King said.
"I can say with confidence to Islanders that we will respond to the extent we need to in partnership with the federal government to help them through this situation."
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With files from Tony Davis and Connor Lamont