What Canada's counter-tariffs mean for Vancouver shoppers

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.

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.

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.

A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.

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.

“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.

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.

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.

“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.