Loblaw to restore country-of-origin, countertariff labels amid renewed ‘Buy Canadian’ push

Loblaw to restore country-of-origin, countertariff labels amid renewed ‘Buy Canadian’ push MATTHEW FRANK PUBLISHED 2 HOURS AGO Open this photo in gallery: Shoppers browse goods in the produce section of a Loblaws in Toronto. CHRIS YOUNG/THE CANADIAN PRESS COMMENTS SHARE SAVE FOR LATER Listen to this article Learn more about audio Log in or create a free account to listen to this article. At a Loblaws grocery store in Toronto on Tuesday, Matthew Avenins and his girlfriend Sarah Baldwin took care to select produce from Canada. Keeping their dollars at home is their way of protesting, Mr. Avenins said, a practice they have pursued since early 2025, when U.S. President Donald Trump launched his trade war against Canada. “The more that we can support our own economy, the better. The less reliant we are on the U.S., the better off we’re going to be,” he said at the Loblaws on Dupont Street in the city’s west end. The couple also abandoned their March travel plans to attend a music festival in Houston, to further avoid supporting the U.S. As Loblaw Cos. Ltd. recently learned, escalating tensions have reinvigorated the “elbows up” movement that has led Canadian consumers to avoid U.S. travel and prioritize buying Canadian goods. Initially, Loblaw was among the retailers that lent its support to the cause, slapping a “T” symbol on shelf labels to identify U.S. products that were subject to Canada’s retaliatory tariffs. The Big Guide to Canadian Shopping By last fall, after Ottawa had pulled its countertariffs, the “T” markers were removed, Loblaw spokesperson Youmna Rab said. Signs indicating the country of origin of products were removed last week, she said. However, public pressure from the renewed “Buy Canadian” trend has pushed the national grocer to bring back the labels that identify where grocery items are sourced from – and to restore its “T” signage as Canada’s new countertariffs roll out. “We are reinstating the T symbol on shelf labels for products sourced directly from the U.S. that are affected by tariffs. Customers will begin to see the T symbol appear as affected products are identified and shelf labels are updated,” Ms. Rab said in an e-mail. “As Canada enters another period of trade uncertainty with the United States, we are once again taking steps to give customers clear information about products affected by tariffs and make Canadian products easier to identify,” she added. Inside the Loblaws grocery store on Dupont Street on…