Montreal food distributor hits back against looming U.S. tariffs by reducing American stock

The aisles at Montreal-based food distribution centre, Can-Am Food Service, are usually full of American products, but now the stock is being reduced amid looming U.S. tariffs.

CEO Mike Bono says he cancelled millions of dollars of planned orders set to come from the States.

“I spoke to a lot of wholesalers in the city that import a major amount of products and we all became Canadians that day — nobody was a competitor anymore,” said Bono.

On Monday, before U.S. President Donald Trump announced there would be a 30-day pause of the 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian imports, Bono says he called up his American suppliers and told them he would be hitting back by cancelling his purchase orders.

It created a bit of a panic for agricultural companies there.

“They really weren’t happy,” Bono said. “They were like, ‘Let us get to the agriculture lobbying, and we’re going to talk to our governors.’” He added that his U.S. partners were the ones that informed him of the 30-day pause, before the news was made public by Trump and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

As tariffs were threatened weeks ago, Bono says he and his team have been preparing their plans even before Trump took office again. He said they have been researching how to replace U.S. products if the tariffs were implemented. 

“The day that’s going to happen, our customers are going to be really pissed, and they’re gonna want us to react, so we were ready,” he said.

This comes amid a growing trend to boycott American products and shop locally.

But for François Vincent, Quebec VP for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), Canadians should have always been buying local products to help support businesses and the economy.

“Why do we have to live a crisis, to think to shop local?” he asked. “We did that during the pandemic. Everybody was saying we will shop local and now with the tariffs, the same thing. We should not wait for a shock to support local shopping.”

But for produce, like citrus and lettuce – one of the main U.S products Can-Am would normally buy at this time of year – it’s a little more difficult to shop locally during the winter months, meaning Bono has been looking for alternatives outside of the States.

“It’s a lot more work from us because now we have to book some flights to bring in stuff, we have to put stuff on cargo ships,” he said.

Last week, 20 per cent of his inventory was from the U.S. – now it’s at 10 per cent. Bono says that number can keep going down if tariffs are implemented next month.

“The products that will be tariffed, for sure, are going to be at zero, unless our customers are asking differently,” he said.

Even despite the tariffs being put on ice for now, Bono says it won’t be business as usual with his American counterparts due to the uncertainty.

“Until the tariffs are not off, for us, they’re still on,” he said.

“We do want be partners with our partners in the United States, but we also want their government to be partners with our government and to work together as allies and as good neighbours and as best friends like we were for all these years.”