Winnipeg importer says food prices will rise as U.S. tariffs cause trouble for farmers, consumers

A Winnipeg food importer and distributor says the cost of food brought in from every part of the world will go up for Canadian consumers and businesses in the wake of U.S. Donald Trump's 25 per cent tariffs.

"When the Canadian dollar suffers, as it's going to, price of everything that we import in Canada, will become that much more expensive, from all over the world. And Canadians will pay for that in spades," said Tom De Nardi, president of Mondo Foods.

De Nardi says U.S. products account for around 10 per cent of what his business imports overall, and most produce he brings in comes from California.

"I'm devastated like all Canadians. Yeah, hurt, angry, all of those emotions," said De Nardi.

Keystone Agricultural Producers, a major agricultural group, says the U.S. tariffs will harm farmers and consumers on both sides of the border.

It said Manitoba's agri-food exports were $9.28 billion last year, with 46 per cent going to the U.S.

Red River Genetics, a farm near Lowe Farm, Man., owned by John Nickel, exports all of its hogs to a farm in Minnesota. (Karen Pauls/CBC)

"These tariffs will not only add costs and threaten Manitoba farmers' ability to operate but will impact the livelihoods and purchasing power of countless individuals and businesses on both sides of the border, resulting in increased food costs for U.S. consumers," the group's general manager, Colin Hornby, said in a news release.

"It's hard to believe that, you know, the Trump administration has only been in place for 43 or 44 days, it feels like an eternity," Hornby told CBC Radio's Radio Noon on Thursday.

In response to Trump's tariffs, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's vowed retaliatory tariffs would be levied on $30 billion in U.S. products until U.S. trade action is withdrawn.

Some U.S. products affected include dairy products, tomatoes, citrus fruit and melons, according to a federal website.

De Nardi says Canada's retaliatory tariffs won't help Canadian shoppers at the checkout.

"All you're doing here is putting more costs on the Canadian consumer at a time where they already are busting at the seams for food costs," said De Nardi.

"That will have a dramatic effect on end user pricing for the consumer that's already stressed currently in their whole financial picture."

Fletcher Baragar, a professor of economics at the University of Manitoba, says slapping the U.S. with tariffs on selected goods will impact the American economy in the short run but only in "bits and pieces."

"It's going to take a bit of time for the full effect of that to sort of percolate through in terms of living standards, perhaps business profitability, perhaps employment, and to get the political message sort of through to decision-makers in Washington," said Baragar.

"And so I think it's important that we make that reaction and that we stick with it because I think eventually the economic effects will have an influence."

When it comes to distribution lines and other markets, Bargar says it will be a challenge for businesses to find alternatives to historical trade lines that existed even before free trade agreements signed in 1992 between the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

"That whole model is very much up in the air… suddenly that model just doesn't seem to be applicable, at least at the moment," said Barager.

'U.S. customers simply going to go away?'

The uncertainty is being felt by members of the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce.

"Some of the companies that I've talked to do 70 to 80 per cent of their business south of the border," chamber president Chuck Davidson said.

"How big of an impact is that going to be? Are those U.S. customers simply going to go away?"

One Winnipeg-based craft brewery said it would like to see the province act to remove interprovincial trade barriers.

The Nova Scotia government recently introduced a bill aimed at reducing interprovincial trade barriers. Provisions in the bill would only be extended to provinces or territories that adopt similar legislation.

Kevin Selch, founder of Little Brown Jug Brewing Co., said he is "perplexed" on why more premiers haven't moved forward with similar legislation.

"Not only would it make an impact on the economy, it would create business confidence that the political class can actually address some of these issues," he said.