What changed on September 8
Canada imposed a 50 per cent counter-tariff on U.S. honey and other products effective September 8, 2026, part of a broader list of tariffs targeting goods drawn from those hit by U.S. Section 338 and Section 232 measures. The counter-tariff came in response to the United States imposing its own 50 per cent tariff on Canadian honey imports.
The U.S. purchases approximately 15 per cent of Canadian honey production, so the tariff wall cuts both ways: American honey headed north gets more expensive here, while Canadian honey producers who rely on the U.S. market lose an important buyer.
Prices could fall, not rise
Counterintuitively, beekeepers estimate honey prices could decline by 40 per cent or more as a result of the tariffs, since producers who can no longer easily sell into the U.S. may end up with more product looking for buyers at home, pushing prices down even as trade costs rise elsewhere in the supply chain.
Peter Awram of Worker Bee Honey Co. put it bluntly: the impact "will be brutal." Rod Scarlett, executive director of the Canadian Honey Council, said the tariff doesn't fit a rational strategy unless it's designed to provoke provincial leaders into a response.
The Ottawa angle
The trade fight is landing close to home. TrueBee Honey, co-owned by Emily Briffa and Jan Peachey, is a family-owned honey farm and packer just southeast of Ottawa in the Seaway Valley. Local operations like TrueBee sit at the intersection of both problems the industry is describing: a shrinking export option and a domestic price picture that's about to get more complicated, right as Ottawa-area beekeepers head into the challenges of a Canadian winter.
For a region that already leans on small, family-run apiaries for local honey at farmers' markets and grocery shelves, a swing in national pricing and export demand isn't an abstract policy story. It affects what local producers can charge, what they can sell south of the border, and ultimately what shows up in Ottawa kitchens.
Earlier this month
Food and market stories have been a steady thread in ottown's coverage this fall, including ottown's earlier report on a new fresh produce market bringing locally sourced groceries downtown, a reminder of how much Ottawa's food scene depends on small, local operators like the ones now navigating this tariff dispute.
Sources: The Globe and Mail, Department of Finance Canada, TrueBee Honey
