ManitobaThe manager of an independent grocery store in downtown Winnipeg says while his business and its customers have felt the impact of tariffs for a number of months, some hope relief is around the corner.Canada is set to end tariffs on a swath of U.S. CUSMA-compliant imports on Sept. 1Gavin Axelrod · CBC News · Posted: Aug 27, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours agoBrayden Halayko is the store manager at Downtown Family Foods in Winnipeg. (Gavin Axelrod/CBC)The manager of an independent grocery store in Winnipeg says while his business and its customers have felt the impact of tariffs for a number of months, some hope relief is around the corner.Canada will drop retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods deemed compliant under the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement, also known as CUSMA, on Sept. 1.The move is expected to lower costs at grocery stores, but those paying close attention to the situation say the impacts won’t be instant.”It’s definitely had a big impact,” Downtown Family Foods manager Brayden Halayko said Tuesday.”We’ve noticed huge spikes in things like coffee, Campbell’s soup — all Campbell’s products — oranges and orange juice,” he said. “Anything that would come from the United States.”Canada imposed a 25 per cent counter-tariff on $60 billion worth of U.S. goods this past March, after Washington threatened to levy a 25 per cent tax on all Canadian exports, but was later applied only to goods that didn’t comply with CUSMA. The U.S. tariffs were raised to 35 per cent on Aug. 1.Prime Minister Mark Carney announced on Aug. 22 that Canada’s retaliatory measures will be lifted on CUSMA-compliant goods coming to Canada from the U.S. starting Sept. 1.Halayko told CBC News he’s been spending more time looking for cheaper and Canadian alternatives while filling orders, and the store has spent thousands of dollars more a month on U.S. goods while grappling with tariffs.”We’re doing our best to navigate and make sure costs aren’t too hard-hitting on the customers’ pockets, but there’s only so much we can do,” he said.Prices expected to drop, says professorThe U.S. has also imposed industry-specific tariffs on Canadian goods that fall within CUSMA, such as steel, aluminum, autos, copper, lumber and energy.Canada will keep its tariffs on steel, aluminum and autos as the two countries work toward a new trade agreement.But for now, Canada dropping its retaliatory tariffs on CUSMA-compliant goods is good news, according to Sylvain Charlebois, a visiting scholar at McGill University who specializes in food science, food policy and food distribution. “We are expecting prices to drop in specific sections of the grocery store,” he said. “Dry goods, pantry goods, we’re expecting many products to drop in price. Coffee will be a big one [and] citrus fruits.”Charlebois said some of the counter-tariffs on goods like coffee and oranges “didn’t make sense” to him. “We don’t have a coffee production sector to protect; same for oranges,” he said. “There were a lot of counter tariffs that just didn’t make sense.Manitobans may have also felt the impact of tariffs when buying those products at grocery stores. Statistics Canada data shows that oranges per kilogram rose from $3.81 in January all the way up to $5.57 in June. Roasted or ground coffee started at $6.63 per 340 grams in January, rising to $8.55 in June.Sylvain Charlebois, a visiting scholar at McGill University who specializes in food science, food policy and food distribution, says Canada’s latest move will be good news for grocers. (CBC)Barry Prentice, director of the University of Manitoba’s Transport Institute and a professor of supply chain management, agreed that dropping the tariffs on CUSMA-compliant U.S. imports is a “smart move.” “I think consumers in Canada were the only ones being affected by this,” he said. “I think the notion was to try and put pressure on certain U.S. states to convince the president to change his mind, but I don’t think that’s going to work anyway, so why hurt ourselves?”Shoppers weigh inWinnipeg shoppers like Dennis Evachewski said even as Canada gets set to drop its retaliatory tariffs, he might still look to Canadian options first.”We’re still going to try to get Canadian as much as possible because you want to support local as much as possible.” he said.Some other shoppers, like Bienvinido Jamoyot, are looking forward to buying U.S. products, free of tariffs.”Sometimes I prefer to buy a U.S. product because it’s better,” he said.Charlebois said the price drops won’t be instant and it may not be until mid-October that the “tariff effect will be muted essentially.”Halayko said he hopes customers will be patient in the meantime.”The tariffs are coming off, which is going to be a benefit for everybody,” he said. “We’re doing our best … to make sure prices aren’t too hard-hitting on the customers’ wallets.” With files from Faith Fundal and CBC News
Grocer hopeful end of retaliatory tariffs will be good for business, but experts say impact won’t be instant
