Clicking “add to cart” may soon come with some additional sticker shock.
As tariff pressures force some sellers in China to increase their prices for U.S. markets, some retail experts say Canadians shopping online could potentially feel the ripple effects on everything from electronics to socks.
This comes as U.S. President Donald Trump hiked duties on Chinese goods to 145 per cent this week, raising the stakes in a trade war that threatens to upend global supply chains. In response, Beijing on Friday increased its tariffs on U.S. imports to 125 per cent.
Canada may have avoided a new round of tariffs, but it doesn’t mean we won’t be affected by the China-U.S. trade war eventually, said Jean-François Ouellet, an associate professor in entrepreneurship and innovation at business school HEC Montréal who specializes in international marketing.
“Canada is often caught in the crossfire,” Ouellet told CBC News.
- This Sunday, Cross Country Checkup is asking: What questions do you have about surviving the trade war … and a possible recession? Leave your comment here and we may read it or call you back for our show
That’s because many e-commerce orders placed on Canadian sites — including Amazon.ca — are fulfilled from the United States or routed through U.S. distribution centres, he said.
“If those goods are made in China, and the U.S. slaps new tariffs on them, the increased cost may get passed on to Canadian shoppers — especially if the product crosses into the U.S. before arriving in Canada.”
With Chinese goods facing a 104 per cent tariff from the U.S., some businesses are looking to adapt their supply chains to avoid higher costs, but others say they face no choice but to pass the price increase on to consumers.
Will Amazon prices go up?
It’s looking that way in the U.S., at least.
China’s largest cross-border e-commerce association said on Wednesday that many Chinese companies that sell products on Amazon are preparing to boost prices for the U.S. or quit the market due to the tariffs.
This sentiment was echoed by Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, who told CNBC on Thursday it’s likely that its network of millions of third-party sellers — many of which are based in China or source their products from there — will have to pass the cost along to consumers.
By Friday, it had already started happening. Chinese electronics company Anker, which is one of Amazon’s largest sellers, raised prices on a fifth of its products on the U.S. platform.
What about Amazon.ca?
It’s less clear how this will affect Canadian consumers on Amazon.ca, explained Nicholas Li, an associate economics professor at Toronto Metropolitan University.
Theoretically, the domain name doesn’t necessarily correlate with warehousing and distribution, Li said. For example, you can buy products shipped from other countries on Amazon.ca.
“But in practice, most…
Read More: Will the U.S.-China tariff war drive up online shopping prices for
