Tariffs a hot topic at CPMA 2025
The trade war between the United States and Canada was a hot topic during many of the conference sessions at the Canadian Produce Marketing Association's (CPMA) Fresh Week in Montreal.
Before the end of the day Wednesday (April 9), not long after CPMA president Ron Lemaire’s opening address, U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly changed his tariff policy yet again, pausing his reciprocal tariffs on most countries around the world for 90 days. (Tariffs on Canadian goods, however, remain unchanged.)
Here’s a look at what members of Canada’s food and beverage industry had to say about tariffs:
Ron Lemaire, president, Canadian Produce Marketing Association:
“CPMA sent a letter to the Prime Minister last week asking for the tariffs on the U.S. to be removed. The tariffs currently set in place on March 4th do no good value to any business or the Canadian public. We need to bring together that non-tariff environment trading environment again and win as an industry.”
Tina Lee, CEO, T&T Supermarket:
“My biggest challenge is your biggest challenge, and I think it’s our industry’s biggest challenge. Don’t we all feel a lot of anxiety right now? You open your phone in the morning, you watch the news at night and it’s up and down … and it builds up all this anxiety. I’m talking tariffs and I prefer not to, but it’s on our minds and it creates so much anxiety that it weighs you down when you go to bed. It’s gonna take a whole industry effort to get through this very difficult part, both for our procurement reams, our buying teams and the produce industry. The farmers I think have it the most difficult [and] not just Canadian farmers, but American farmers are in a tough spot, too.”
David Colleto, CEO, Abacus Data:
“When we are under threat, when we are feeling like we are under stack, by an external force, what does it do? It kind of brings us together. Forty four per cent of Canadians say they will do absolutely everything they can to not purchase anything made in the United States. I don’t know whether this is a long-term trend, but what I do know about consumer behaviour is once you give a consumer a reason to change a habit, like COVID did in many ways, that habit might stick."
READ: Canadians willing to pay more for homegrown goods, survey finds
Geoff Molson, owner, president and chief executive officer, Groupe CH:
“We are impacted by the tariffs. There’s a 25% tariffs on aluminum and steel and our product is primarily made in aluminum cans. Quite a large portion of the cans we use to produce beer in Canada are purchased in the U.S. We are impacted, but I think we’re in a good position because when we merged in 2005 with Coors we really did create a North American company. We have breweries in Canada, breweries in the U.S. and breweries in Europe and beer can be made in any of those breweries. So, we’re lucky, touch wood, that if it does get worse, we can shift production.”
CPMA's 2025 convention and trade show wraps up Thursday.
