How Canadian tariffs affect $50 in American groceries

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — As the trade war between the U.S. and Canada plays out, we’re taking a look at how much more you could pay if you buy goods here in the Buffalo area and cross into Canada.

President Donald Trump has put a pause on many imports from Canada. However, Canada is still moving forward with its 25% retaliatory tariff on goods from the states.

Here’s an example, from one of us here at WIVB News 4, of how much more you could be paying.

This employee lives in Canada, went to Wegmans over the weekend and bought $50 in groceries, nothing crazy. What was a surprise was how much more Canada charged when those groceries were declared at the border.

The WIVB News 4 employee in this circumstance was sent to secondary inspection and was hit with a tariff bill.

A tariff bill comes with the importer’s name and address at the top, the date and time that they crossed, and at which bridge.

Under normal circumstances, groceries are non-taxable. Things have changed with the ongoing trade war.

Canada converted the $50 spent at Wegmans to $70.73.

The 25 percent tariff was put on that amount coming out to about $17. Then, Canada charges an additional sales tax, bringing the total tax to $20. To pay the tariff bill, the station employee paid in American currency, which came out to about $15 since the American dollar is still stronger than the Canadian dollar.

So, for that $50 bag of groceries, it ended up costing $65 American because these groceries crossed into Canada.

The 25% tariff is on $30 billion worth of goods, alcohol, appliances and clothing. Here’s a full list of what’s being taxed if you cross the border.

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Jeff Preval is an award-winning anchor and reporter who joined the News 4 team in December 2021. See more of his work here.

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