Loblaw clarifies made in Canada label confusion amid tariffs

No grocery store label is safe from the scrutiny of Canadian shoppers during the Canada-United States tariff war.

The federal government's initial retaliatory tariffs saw a long list of grocery items impacted by the 25 per cent duty.

U.S. President Donald Trump doubled tariffs on steel and aluminum products from Canada on Wednesday, so Ottawa responded with another $29.8 billion worth of tariffs on American goods ranging from stoves to roller coasters.

Calls to support Canadian-made products have grown stronger than ever with nearly 25,000 people signing a petition urging "Product of Canada" labels in grocery stores.

Canada's major grocers have heard the calls to highlight Canadian goods in stores. Loblaw has even started marking Canadian products with a maple leaf symbol and imported U.S. products with prices that have been affected by tariffs with a "T" symbol.

However, some shoppers shared their confusion about discrepancies between labels.

Shoppers find grocery stores are mistakenly labelling U.S. products as made in Canada amid tariff threats 🫥https://t.co/PSMDclcZCc

— blogTO (@blogTO) February 27, 2025

Several Redditors have posted photos of Loblaw brands like No Name and President's Choice (PC) that are labelled as products of the U.S. on the package, but marked with a maple leaf symbol on the shelf.

One post shows a photo of PC's Extra Fine Whole Green Bean labelled as a product of the U.S. on the package, despite the maple leaf symbol being on the price tag.

One shopper said they removed a "prepared in Canada" sign from a can of PC refried beans with packaging that says it's a product of the U.S.

"Always read your labels, folks," wrote the Redditor.

Vortechtral/Reddit | duketheunicorn/Reddit

Another customer claimed that new packaging on some PC products "hides" the product of U.S.A label.

"Saw this at No Frills recently. They're making it harder for us to see if things are made in the U.S.A.," reads the post.

A Loblaw spokesperson addressed the confusion over email.

DirtyTricksDept/Reddit

"We know Canadians are looking for more information about where products come from, and we're doing what we can, recognizing the complicated supply chain in food production," explained the spokesperson.

They noted that the maple leaf symbol means the product was "Prepared in Canada" with domestic and/or imported ingredients.

"Some of these products may have 'Product of Canada' or 'Made in Canada' claims on their packaging, which means even more aspects of those products come from Canada," said the spokesperson. They direct customers with more tariff questions to the grocer's FAQ page. The company was unable to address the photos above without knowing the specific stores where the products were being sold.

Loblaw isn't the only grocery store in Canada being accused of mislabelling. Products at Sobeys and Walmart have also been flagged by some customers.