Shutterstock: Melica
Tomato ketchup falling from bottle

Trump’s Tariff Threat Leads to Canada Ketchup Kerfuffle

Jan. 24, 2025
Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau says Canadians will need to consider nationally produced brands to avoid U.S. tariff price jumps, citing ketchup specifically — leading to a sharp response from Kraft Heinz Canada.

Earlier this week, U.S. President Donald Trump set a timeline for the threatened tariffs on products coming into the country from neighboring Canada and Mexico — threats that have been vocalized for months and sent Canadian and Mexican government officials on the defensive.

And, just like that moment when the ketchup comes glopping out of the glass bottle too fast after being shaken and tapped, a flood of responses and assumptions has flowed fast and furiously into the headlines — making a bit of a mess.

First, Trump had stated earlier this week that a Feb. 1, 2025, deadline has been set for 25% tariffs to begin on Canada and Mexico unless those governments do more to stop illegal migrants and drugs such as fentanyl from crossing their borders into the U.S. During his campaign, Trump had promised to institute tariffs right away upon taking office, and although he did not do this on Day One, he is wasting little time.

After this news broke, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded, telling reporters that Canadians will need to consider switching to nationally produced replacements for imported products, as they did in Trump’s first term as U.S. president. Of course, the example he used ruffled the feathers of at least one food company as being inaccurate.

“The example from last time was Heinz’s ketchup being replaced by French’s ketchup because French’s was still using Canadian tomatoes in its ketchup,” Trudeau said, according to reports. However, that appears to be an outdated reference, and Kraft Heinz was ready to jump all over it.

In its own statement, Kraft Heinz Canada was keen to update its ketchup’s origins.

“Kraft Heinz Canada is deeply disappointed that Prime Minister Trudeau has made misleading statements that Heinz Ketchup is not made in Canada and that it may be a potential target for counter-vailing tariffs,” the release said. The company clarified that, indeed, Heinz ketchup was not produced in Canada from 2015 to 2020, but it was “resolute in our decision to bring the production of Heinz Ketchup back to Canada in 2020 and are proud that Heinz Ketchup is made in Canada, by Canadians, using Canadian tomatoes.”

The company went on to say that more than 1,000 Canadians were employed at its Mount Royal, Quebec, facility, making ketchup from tomatoes grown in Leamington, Ontario — and that Kraft Heinz was the largest purchaser of tomatoes in Ontario.

About the Author

Andy Hanacek | Senior Editor

Andy Hanacek has covered meat, poultry, bakery and snack foods as a B2B editor for nearly 20 years, and has toured hundreds of processing plants and food companies, sharing stories of innovation and technological advancement throughout the food supply chain. In 2018, he won a Folio:Eddie Award for his unique "From the Editor's Desk" video blogs, and he has brought home additional awards from Folio and ASBPE over the years. In addition, Hanacek led the Meat Industry Hall of Fame for several years and was vice president of communications for We R Food Safety, a food safety software and consulting company.

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