From ice cream to defence: How Canada’s tariff war with the United States is boosting local businesses

The United States and Canada are embroiled in a tariff war, and it may “come at a cost” for Ottawa, as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney had warned. But the fight is winning in quite unusual sectors: from ice cream parlors and gift shops to wineries and even defense manufacturing.As American products face new Canadian tariffs, local businesses have seen a rebound due to the “buy Canadian” wave.Prime Minister Mark Carney has warned that moving away from the United States as Canada’s largest trading partner “will come at a cost,” adding that counter-tariffs on American products “are necessary to protect our workers.”The new Canadian levies cover nearly C$28 billion ($20 billion) worth of American goods, ranging from steel and furniture to cotton T-shirts, with tariffs of up to 50%.

Local products in the basket.

For Chapman’s, Canada’s largest independent ice cream maker, the trade tensions have coincided with some of its best summer sales.The family-owned business employs 1,150 people in Markdale, Ontario, about two hours northwest of Toronto. Ashley Chapman, the company’s chief operating officer, said the business had benefited as Canadians turned to local products.“Every time Trump insults Canada, Canadians buy more Canadian things,” Ashley Chapman, COO of Chapman Ice Cream, told the Financial Times. “It’s actually worked out pretty well for us.”The company has also been changing where it sources its ingredients and components. Since March of last year, when Trump launched his first round of tariffs on Canada, he has been looking for suppliers outside the United States.More than 70% of its U.S. ingredients and components are expected to be replaced by Canadian or non-U.S. sources by mid-2027.“If you had asked me two years ago, ‘how about we source our almonds from Australia?’ [instead of the US] “I would have said you were crazy,” he said.“It’s not a big surprise that Trump is pushing for more concessions, more of everything. But certainly Canadians have had enough,” he said. “The Buy Canadian movement is strong and getting stronger.”

‘Buy Canadian’ gets a boost

Maker House, an Ottawa-based retail and online gift shop, has spent the past 18 months selling 300 Canadian-made products. The company also stopped shipping products to the United States after tariffs increased its costs.“We had a really good year last year and I think last week we certainly had some good momentum,” owner Gareth Davies said.Among its most popular products were items bearing the slogan “elbows up,” Prime Minister Mark Carney’s battle cry to resist Trump’s hostility toward Canada.“Everything in the store is made in Canada, you don’t have to worry or check the labels,” Davies said.“All of this is a reminder that we can better protect our own economy by supporting Canadians who make things,” he said.The change has also been felt in Ontario’s wine industry.When American alcohol was pulled from the shelves of Ontario’s government-run liquor stores in response to Trump’s March 2025 tariffs, local producers saw a “significant boost” in demand as consumers embraced the “shop local” sentiment.At Leaning Post Wines in Niagara, near Lake Ontario, sales increased by 3,000 cases.“We saw an additional 3,000 cases of wine sold. When only 8,000 cases are made, that’s a significant increase,” said Nadia Senchuk, who runs Leaning Post Wines with her husband Ilya in Niagara, near Lake Ontario.“Our growth has been excellent over the last 18 months,” he said.Ontario has nearly 200 wineries, contributing more than C$5.5 billion to the Canadian economy each year and employing 22,000 people, according to Vintners Quality Alliance, a trade group. VQA wine sales increased 10% year-on-year last year.

Defense companies look beyond the US

The shift in trade ties is also creating opportunities for Canadian manufacturers supplying defence-related products.Ontario-based Wuxly started out making coats for Canada’s frigid winters. It now produces defense and aerospace clothing for various military forces around the world.Its workforce of operational seamstresses and seamstresses increased from 50 in 2024 to 200 in 2025. The company expects that number to exceed 350 by the end of this year.Wuxly hopes to benefit from increased local sourcing in Canadian defense spending, displacing some demand from U.S. suppliers.“We have definitely seen more interest in Canadian-made defense textiles under the Build-Partner-Buy framework set out in the defense industrial strategy,” said James Yurichuk, founder and CEO of Wuxly.The company has also been looking toward Europe as Canada moves away from U.S. markets. It shipped more than 250,000 Canadian-made products to the EU last year and was “on track to surpass this figure” in 2026.“Perhaps the biggest silver lining of the trade war, and of the broader cooling of relations with the United States, has been the increased interest from European NATO nations,” Yurichuk said.“There is still a lot of work to do to support the national champions, but we are heading in the right direction,” he added.

Others face price pressure

However, all companies find change easy. Joey Walsh, owner of HockeyStickMan, a hockey equipment retailer, told the Financial Times that almost half of the company’s sales previously came from the United States.The family-owned business operates stores in Toronto and Belleville, eastern Ontario, and employs about 80 people. It sells gear from brands like CCM and Bauer, along with its own Pro Blackout line, which is primarily made in China and eschews many of Trump’s latest duties.“Tariffs have significantly affected our business, but we are doing everything we can to hold the line and not pass costs on to our customers,” he said.“Tariffs are charged based on where a product is made, not who sells it, so fortunately this round of tariffs has less impact on the industry than it appears on the surface,” he added.Even when the direct impact of tariffs is limited, Walsh said companies face additional work and costs because tariff levels continue to change. Customs, logistics and paperwork have added to the tension.“It has become more expensive to operate, for us and for the industry as a whole. That pressure has not ended,” he said.