Brad Dokken: Americans bringing personal groceries into Canada won't have to pay tariffs after all

Yahoo

04-04-2025

Apr. 4—Despite recent reports to the contrary, American tourists bringing food items into Canada for personal use won't have to pay tariffs on those groceries when they venture north for fishing, hunting or other outdoors adventures.
That's good news.
There had been numerous reports, both in traditional and social media, that Canada would impose a 25% tariff on food items brought into the country for personal use as a result of the tariffs U.S. President Donald Trump has placed on Canada.
That is not the case, Laurie Marcil, executive director of the Northern Ontario Tourist Outfitters Association (NOTO) in North Bay, Ontario, said in an email to the Grand Forks Herald. Tariffs won't be applied to grocery items brought from the U.S. into Canada as a result of Trump's tariffs, Marcil said.
"We have confirmed that the personal exemptions that are set out in regulation include any surtax (including tariffs, duties and taxes)," Marcil said. "And therefore, grocery items brought into Canada from U.S. travelers will not be subject to the 25% tariffs as long as the total amount brought in 'makes sense' or is appropriate for the amount of time the guests will be in Canada."
Business as usual, in other words.
According to Marcil, NOTO originally had heard from several border crossings that all groceries entering Canada would be subject to the tariffs. That would have required Americans bringing groceries into Canada to provide receipts for Canada Border Services Agency officers to determine how much duty would have to be paid.
That likely would have resulted in long lines — and wait times — at the Canadian border, especially at busy crossings such as Fort Frances, Ontario.
The other option, of course, would have been for U.S. tourists to buy their groceries in Canada to avoid paying duty at the border. Considering a U.S. dollar is worth about $1.43 Canadian — give or take a cent or two — the price difference is likely minimal. That being said, as a fisherman who has taken more than 25 DIY (do-it-yourself) Canadian fly-in fishing trips over the years, I can attest that buying groceries ahead of time — or in some cases, preparing dishes in advance to heat up later — makes planning and packing considerably easier.
In that context, NOTO's confirmation that Canada is not requiring U.S. tourists to pay a surtax on groceries brought into the country for personal use is welcome news indeed.
In her email, Marcil said colleagues from the Tourism Industry Association of Canada reached out to senior levels of CBSA for clarification on the rules.
"We ... have since confirmed with the border crossings that the application of the tariffs at the crossings on visitors' grocery items will not happen," Marcil said.
That applies to border crossings across Canada, she added.
As always, food limits continue to apply for dairy and meat products being brought into Canada for personal use. For more information, check out the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's Automated Import Reference System (AIRS) website at
https://inspection.canada.ca/en/importing-food-plants-animals/airs
.
Visitors entering Canada from the U.S. also are limited to no more than:
* 1.5 liters (L) of wine, or 1.14 L of spirits, or 1.14 L of wine and spirits, or 8.5 L of beer or ale.
* 200 cigarettes, 50 cigars, 200 grams of manufactured tobacco and 200 tobacco sticks.
* 200 rounds of ammunition or, if they are for the use of that person at a meet held under the auspices of a recognized shooting or rifle association of Canada, 1,500 rounds of ammunition.
As for me, I'll err on the side of caution when bringing groceries across the border and keep receipts handy — just in case.
And as always, be aware — and declare.
And now, from the "Better Late Than Never" department, there's this:
Two weeks ago, while working on a story about the
five-year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the outdoors then and now,
I reached out to Kristin Byram, the strategic communications chief for the North Dakota Parks and Recreation Department, for numbers on state park visitations since 2020.
I didn't hear back.
While the deadline for the story — which appeared online Friday, March 21, and ran in print Saturday, March 22 — had long since passed, I circled back again this week to see if Byram could provide the numbers.
She got back to me this time and apologized for the "delayed response." As I expected, the numbers followed a familiar trend: Record or near-record levels of participation in 2020, when the outdoors provided an important outlet for pandemic-weary people looking for something to do, followed by a slight decline in the ensuing years.
Here, then, are North Dakota state park visitation numbers since 2020.
* 2020: 1,296,508.
* 2021: 1,292,896.
* 2022: 1,135,538.
* 2023: 1,236,527.
* 2024: 1,195,907.