What Canada's counter-tariffs mean for Vancouver shoppers

Sean McGarva at West Of Woodward in Vancouver. Half of his store's goods are from the U.S., so the impact on his business could be 'tremendous' Photo by Arlen Redekop /PNG

Article content

Vancouver shoppers will pay more for some American goods — or watch them vanish from shelves — when Canada’s new counter-tariffs take effect Sept. 8.

Article content

The measures are Ottawa’s dollar-for-dollar answer to U.S. tariffs, hitting $27.6 billion in American products at rates that match Washington’s — 50 per cent on goods such as clothing and furniture, 25 per cent on seafood and appliances, 15 per cent on electronics and tools. The counter-tariffs apply to goods that originate in the U.S.

Article content

Article content

Article content

For shoppers, that plays out three ways, several local owners said. A product’s price goes up, although usually by less than the tariff. It can drop, because the markup makes it unsellable or because the owner is cutting U.S. goods by choice. Or a store might steer customers toward something made in Canada or Europe instead.

Article content

Article content

Bryan Yu, chief economist at Central 1 Credit Union, said prices will rise in the targeted categories, but not necessarily by the full 25 or 50 per cent, since stores can absorb part of the cost, find a supplier outside the U.S., or drop a product line altogether.

Article content

“There actually might be a scenario where, yes, you’ll have higher prices. In some cases you just won’t see those products anymore on the shelf,” Yu said.

Article content

The sharpest surprises, he said, may be small everyday items — body wash, paper goods, imported fish at a restaurant — rather than the big purchases people brace for. His advice to shoppers: expect to hunt for substitutes, because stores will be doing the same.

Article content

Article content

At West Of Woodward, a Yaletown clothing boutique, roughly half the stock is made in the U.S. — and owner Sean McGarva said a 50 per cent tariff is simply unworkable.

Article content

Article content

“If it’s 50 per cent tariff on cost, that makes it a 100 per cent increase retail,” he said, describing a $200 item that would land near $400.

Article content

Article content

Rather than charge that, McGarva said, he will pull most American lines, so the more likely thing a customer notices isn’t a higher tag, but favourite U.S. brands missing from the racks. Shipments already booked will arrive; after that, he said, those labels go on pause until he sees whether the tariffs hold.

Article content

Sean McGarva at West of Woodward on Tuesday Photo by Arlen Redekop /PNG

Article content

For some stores, the change customers see has nothing to do with price. At the Point Grey fish market Hooked On Fish, owner Cato Feige is dropping his American sauces and dried goods no matter what the tariff does, part of a personal boycott.

Article content

“I’m boycotting American products. So I’m not bringing anything in from the U.S. anymore,” he said.

Article content

Feige said shoppers are mostly reaching for locally sourced fish and seafood.

Article content

At other stores, customers may not notice anything at all. Anne Pearson of Main Street’s Vancouver Special said about 90 per cent of her furniture is made in Europe, much of it Scandinavian, and clears the border duty-free under Canada’s trade deal with the EU.