An Ontario teen has created a website compiling a list of Canadian products â from clothing to instruments to electronics â for those who want hit back at the Trump administrationâs tariffs with their wallets.
Tyler Campbell, who resides in Uxbridge, Ont., said he created shortly after July 1 when, in a tit-for-tat retaliation, Canada imposed surtaxes on $16.6 billion of American products in response to the Trump administrationâs tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum.
âMy dad, my uncle and I were all together for my uncleâs birthday party,â Campbell told CTVâs Your Morning. âWe realized that we want to buy Canadian and we want to support Canadian businesses, but thereâs not really an easy way to find out what is actually Canadian, so we figured why not just make it ourselves?â
The websiteâs database includes 234 âCanadian choicesâ across 18 categories such as furniture, toys, health and fitness, pet products and food. Each productâs listing includes details about where in Canada it is manufactured, where in Canada it is sold and whether it is Canadian-owned.
Campbell told CTVâs Your Morning that the response to his database has been âoverwhelmingly positiveâ and that he often receives suggestions of products to add to this list from fellow Canadians.
He said that his website is âless about Trump and more about Canada,â noting that its overall goal is to promote Canadian-made products from Canadian-owned companies.
âMy grandparents were immigrants from Ireland and they started their own small business 35 years ago,â Campbell said. âThere are so many stories like theirs that donât get shared and donât get told.â
For Canadians hoping to shop patriotically, Campbell recommends buying local and paying close attention to product labels. A âProduct of Canadaâ label means that virtually all of the major ingredients, processing and labour used to make the product are Canadian. A âMade in Canadaâ label is used for products when the last substantial stage of production of the product happened in Canada, even if some of the ingredients come from other countries.
Campbell said that while it is not impossible, it is expensive to buy only products made in Canada.
âIn theory, Iâm sure you could get by,â he said.