Eastern Canadian premiers renew pleas to buy local amid trade war with United States

ST. JOHN’S — Premiers in Eastern Canada are once again calling on residents to buy local as Canada squares off against the United States in an escalating trade war.

Premiers in Quebec, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island have urged residents to seek out products made in Canada and in their home provinces since U.S. President Donald Trump imposed 50 per cent tariffs on billions of dollars in Canadian exports on Saturday.

“Every dollar spent on an Island or Canadian product supports the worker who made it, the farmer who grew it, the fisher who caught it, the producer who processed it and the business that put it on the shelf,” said Rob Lantz, premier of P.E.I., in a news release Sunday. “Where we spend our hard-earned money matters. Those choices add up.”

Premiers across Canada first beseeched people to buy local last year, when Trump was threatening 25 per cent tariffs on many Canadian goods. When trade talks broke off late Friday night between the two countries, Trump made good on his threat to introduce 50 per cent tariffs targeting Canadian goods ranging from hockey sticks and honey to essential oils and dairy products.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has fired back, vowing to retaliate dollar-for-dollar with levies on U.S. goods beginning next month. He said more details on those retaliatory measures, as well as supports for affected sectors, will be announced in coming days.

The U.S. tariffs have hit businesses and workers in New Brunswick, Premier Susan Holt said in a statement on Saturday.

“Now, more than ever, we need to double down on buying local and supporting New Brunswick businesses and workers,” she said.

The tariffs will affect about $7.7 billion of exports from Quebec, said Christine Fréchette, the province’s premier. If each family in the province bought $25 worth of local goods each week, the spinoff effects would inject about $3 billion back into the economy, she told reporters on Saturday.

“To buy Quebec products is not an economic action, it is a nationalistic action. It’s an action of solidarity,” she said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 23, 2026.

The Canadian Press