Strategic Shifts: How Canadian Procurement Policy Is Responding To U.S. Tariffs

Overview

Ongoing trade tensions have initiated important discussions on Canadian purchasing decisions. Procuring entities at the local, provincial, and national levels have taken steps to assess their existing procurement policies and procedures in response U.S. tariff measures. More recently on April 4, 2025, the Province of Ontario published the Procurement Restriction Policy to restrict U.S. businesses from accessing public sector procurements in Ontario.

In this article, we discuss the Ontario framework, together with select procurement measures proposed or introduced by other Canadian provinces, territories, and municipalities at the time of writing. We have highlighted measures introduced by the City of Toronto, the City of Brampton, the City of Greater Sudbury, the Province of British Columbia, the Province of Saskatchewan, the Province of Manitoba, and the Yukon Territory. While the Government of Canada has introduced a series of retaliatory measures, no