The head of Loblaw Cos. Ltd. says the company expects a surge of tariff-related price increases at its stores as its pre-tariff inventory runs out.
Chief executive Per Bank says that so far, the company has limited the number of tariff-hit products to a little over 1,000 but that within the next week or two it will rise to over 3,000, and could peak at over 6,000 within then next two months.
He says in a LinkedIn post that it will still be a small share of the roughly 80,000 items the company stocks, but customers will notice changes to categories including natural foods, pantry staples and health & beauty products.
The company has been adding a ‘T’ symbol to products affected by tariffs, and Bank says both the company and customers keep seeking out products from Canada and outside the U.S.
He says he’s also pleased that the Canadian government changed its counter-tariff policy to only apply to finished products.
Canada has imposed reciprocal tariffs on about $60 billion worth of goods imported from the U.S., along with additional auto-specific counter-tariffs, in response to what the government says is unjustified U.S. tariffs.
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