Illustration by Zoe Si
Mead, burial shrouds, fitted cases for church bells and identification bands for migratory birds: this motley crew of unusual items is among a long list of goods that Canada has slapped with tariffs as part of its unresolved trade war with the U.S.
In response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs against Canadian goods, Canada reacted with its own retaliatory duties, imposing a first tranche on March 4. On March 13, that list was expanded to include steel and aluminum products.
The exhaustive product breakdown is available thanks to the Harmonized System, a standardized system used globally to classify commodities and manage international trade.
Among those tariffed products are everyday staples and items foundational to our trade relationship: meat, dairy, metals, oil and gas. But they also include a spate of bizarre, niche and oddly specific goods, some of which cross the border in negligible amounts.
Mead, for instance, is included on the list, despite the honey-based alcoholic beverage typically being a locally-made specialty. Dustin Ryan, owner of Fallentimber Meadery in Water Valley, Alta., doesn’t sell to the U.S., and as far as he knows, little is imported from there. At the moment, mead isn’t even recognized as its own regulatory category in much of Canada, Mr. Ryan said. “There’s no such thing as bad press,” he said of mead being included on the list. “It’s just nice to be acknowledged.”
Meanwhile, the tariff on burial shrouds is unlikely to do major damage to the funeral industry, said Jim Reid, owner of the James Reid Funeral Home in Kingston, Ont. Approximately 900 people die every day in Canada, according to StatsCan, and he estimates that only about 10 of those opt to be buried in shrouds. It’s unclear how many burial shrouds come from the U.S.
Bird leg bands, on the other hand, typically do come from the U.S., said Mark Mallory, ornithologist and a Canada Research Chair studying coastal environments. This is because they’re linked in to a central North American bird tracking system centred there, he said. While they’re small, they’re numerous: academics and volunteers attach tens of thousands of these bands to bird legs every year, Mr. Mallory said. He’s hoping the government, which pays for them, has a stockpile. If not: “the worst case scenario is that we won’t be banding mallards this year.”
And for John Scott, owner of church bell business Scotiabell Inc. in Waterdown, Ont., the list is perplexing. He isn’t quite sure what’s meant by “fitted cases for church bells,” which were included on the March 4 list. It wasn’t until the March 13 expansion that the bells themselves were included, but he says he has never purchased a bell cast in the U.S. “I don’t think it’s a huge market,” he said.
Barring any further walkbacks from Mr. Trump, the Canadian government is set to expand the list of items in April, and the size and scale of targets is rising: cruise ships, warships and oil drilling rigs will all be included.
From live bison and emus to door mats and snuff, here is a list of some niche items that now or soon will have a Canadian tariff applied to them.
Items included in lists of current tariffs, as of March 4 or March 13
- Fat of fowls
- Fertilized chicken eggs for incubation
- Maté
- Fats and oils and their fractions, of fish or marine mammals
- Mead
- Prune wine
- Snuff
- Yarn used to clean between the teeth (dental floss)
- Lavatory seats and covers
- Used tires
- English type saddles
- Dog coats
- Various items categorized as “Articles of a kind normally carried in the pocket or in the handbag.”
- Fitted cases for church bells
- Diaries
- Ski suits and diving suits
- Inserts for use in the manufacture of cycling shorts
- Parts of prayer shawls
- Sails
- Burial Shrouds
- Sample books of textile wall coverings
- Furniture moving pads
- Bowling and ballet shoes
- Firefighting and football helmets
- Sugar tongs
- Snow ploughs
- Unmanned aircraft: Designed for the carriage of passengers
- Automatic explosive bird-scaring devices
- Swivel seats
- Christmas tree lights
- Playing cards
- Original paintings, drawings and pastels
- Candlesticks
- Statuettes
- Mattocks and picks for climbing or mountaineering
- Anvils
- Bells, gongs and the like
- Sleeping bags
- Wheeled toys designed to be ridden by children
- Roller coasters, carousels, Dodge’em cars, water park amusements
- Travelling circuses and travelling menageries
Items expected to be tariffed in April, 2025
- Live buffalo, primates, camels, ostriches and emus
- Dolphin, porpoise, and manatee meat
- Pigs’, hogs’ or boars’ bristles and hair and waste thereof
- Bovine semen
- Imitation lard
- Asbestos
- Fish egg incubators and parts thereof
- Wheels for use in the manufacture of barbecues
- Door Mats
- Silk-worm cocoons suitable for reeling
- Wigs, false beards, eyebrows and eyelashes
- Steel stanchions for confining livestock either in pens or individually
- Fittings for use in the manufacture of multiple ring binders
- Spacecraft, cruise ships, drilling platforms and warships
- Parts and accessories for keyboard pipe organs
- Metronomes, tuning forks and pitch pipes
- Rocket launchers; flame-throwers; grenade launchers; torpedo tubes and similar projectors