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Retailers are already seeing the “buy Canadian” movement pay off as consumers favour local products amid the trade war with the United States. Metro Inc. said sales of Canadian products in its stores are now outpacing total sales.
Metro, along with other Canadian grocery retailers such as Loblaw Cos. Ltd. and Empire, had started labelling items that are “made in Canada” as customers seek to identify locally-produced products and avoid buying U.S. imports.
During Metro’s second quarter earnings call, chief executive Eric La Flèche said the company is putting “even more emphasis” on local and Canadian-made products and optimizing their visibility, whether in store, online or through promotional tools.
“Customers are responding well. Sales of Canadian products are outpacing total sales and the gap has accelerated over the past few weeks,” La Flèche told analysts on Wednesday.
The CEO said that aside from highlighting Canadian products, Metro is also sourcing products from its international suppliers to respond to the needs of customers.
Since U.S. President Donald Trump’s 25 per cent tariff on Canadian goods only came into effect on March 4, La Flèche said that they, along with Canada’s counter tariffs, did not impact Metro’s internal food inflation in the second quarter ended March 15.
The situation, however, remains highly volatile, he said, adding that the retailer is working with vendor partners to find alternative sources of supply whenever appropriate. He also said that some U.S. vendors have been working with the grocer to mitigate the effect of counter tariffs.
“Counter tariffs are not good for inflation,” said chief financial officer François Thibault, who is retiring at the end of the week.
Thibault said the company needs to manage through this on the food side by finding (alternative) sources of supply to keep costs and minimize inflation. “But it puts some inflationary pressures,” he added.
With Trump’s tariffs still in flux, the grocer is trying to wait and see before making big changes, said Thibault.
He said Metro has seen some cost increases related to counter tariffs and has asked for six weeks notice from those suppliers.
“So, starting now, some small cost increases or related tariffs can start to be reflected,” he said, adding that the company is working with vendors to minimize costs for Metro as well as retail prices for the customer.
The grocer reported $4.9 billion in sales in the second quarter of 2025, a 5.5 per cent increase from the prior year. It said sales were positively impacted by the transfer of two significant pre-Christmas shopping days to the second quarter.