Image credit: CFJC Today/Anthony Corea

By Marty Hastings

MADE IN CANADA

Kamloops stores talk potential impact of U.S. tariffs

Feb 3, 2025 | 6:00 PM

KAMLOOPS — Nutters Everyday Naturals Kamloops franchise owner Sarah Sims was happy to show off the Made in Canada signs taped to shelves on Monday (Feb. 3) in the downtown store.

“The uncertainty for the economy is a bit scary,” Sims said. “We carry a lot of Canadian and locally produced products, so I think that’s an advantage for us, for sure, and I think we’ll be able to find a lot of alternatives.”

On Monday afternoon, U.S. President Donald Trump paused threatened 25 per cent tariffs on most Canadian goods following a phone conversation with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Earlier in the day, Eastuff Grocery Wholesale owner Kevin Yeung expressed concern over the possibility of a trade war, noting about 30 per cent of his goods come from Japan and go through California before arriving in the Tournament Capital.

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“Yeah, I’m concerned and worried about that,” he said. “We would have to increase the price (on the U.S.-imported products) by 20 per cent.”

Yeung said he plans to seek suppliers in China and South Korea in the case of a trade war, aiming to bypass the U.S.

The organic produce section in Nutters could shrink in the case of a trade war, said Sims, as about 90 per cent of the goods are from California and tariff-increased cost would be too dear.

“There are a lot of amazing Canadian companies and we have a lot already,” Sims said. “We work with really great distributors and they’re already sending emails showing us great Canadian products we should be considering if we don’t already have them.”

Brock Centre Liquor Store owner Gary Bigham said he received an email on Monday from the B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch.

He said the branch has been directed – by Premier David Eby in response to Trump’s tariff threats — to take the five most popular American liquor products from red states off its shelves, among them Jack Daniels, Jim Beam and Bacardi.

“We can sell them until the product runs out,” Bigham said. “We just won’t be able to reorder them.”

Stock outages are possible, but Bigham said the distribution branch could reverse the policy any time and, “if they do sort something out and they start buying and the tariffs are in place, it will be just an increased price to the customer because, of course, our wholesale price will go up so that means the retail price will go up.”

The Brock Centre Liquor Store has no plans to dissuade customers from buying American.

“We don’t want to get political about anything,” Bigham said. “We’ll have the product if it’s available on the shelf and the customer can decide whether or not they want to buy Canadian or not buy American.

“I guess we’ll leave it to the capable people we elected to sort this mess out.”