President Donald Trump announced a plan for “reciprocal” tariffs on countries that tax or limit markets for U.S. goods, Thursday at the White House. (X/Margo Martin)
Swiss chocolate maker Lindt & Sprungli may soon cut out the United States as a chocolate supplier to Canada amid a tariff war between the North American countries.
Canada, which sources 50% of its Lindt chocolate from the U.S. and the rest from Europe, may soon receive the products entirely from Europe as a measure for the company to sidestep the trade conflict.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced 25% tariffs on American goods in retaliation to Trump authorizing 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, which takes effect on Tuesday.
“We are monitoring the situation very closely and have identified different ways to mitigate the effect of tariffs,” a Lindt & Sprungli spokesperson said to Fox News Digital. “These include the possibility of supplying countries like Canada and Mexico from our European production facilities.”
TRUDEAU SAYS CANADA WILL ISSUE 25% TARIFFS ON $155 BILLION OF AMERICAN GOODS
Employees package products at a Lindt & Sprungli factory in Kilchberg, Switzerland. Facilities in Europe may begin shipping more products to Canada and Mexico amid a trade war imposed by the U.S. (Anna Webber/Philipp Schmidli/Bloomberg / Getty Images)
CEO Adalbert Lechner also told Reuters that Canada, one of its top 10 markets, is able to source 100% from Europe.
“The volumes that we source currently for Canada can all be shifted to Europe,” Lechner said.
COCOA PRICES CONTINUE TO SPIKE: WHAT’S DRIVING COSTS HIGHER?
A Lindt employee monitors a packaging unit in Kilchberg, near Zurich, Switzerland, one of the company’s 12 factories around the world. (Gianluca Colla/Bloomberg / Getty Images)
The shift in Canada’s supply chain may begin by mid-2025, and stores in Canada have already stockpiled Lindt products from the U.S. to provide a grace period for the change, Reuters reported..
While it is more expensive to transport chocolate from Europe to Canada, tariffs would have imposed higher costs on the chocolate maker, Chief Financial Officer Martin Hug told the outlet.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CHLSY | CHOCOLADEFABRIKEN LINDT & SPRUENGLI AG | 13.5 | +0.45 | +3.45% |
European-made products may also receive less negative consumer sentiment than those made in the U.S., according to Reuters, citing Hug.
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A Lindt & Sprungli chocolate shop in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Creative Touch Imaging Ltd./NurPhoto / Getty Images)
While Lindt is taking steps to avoid the tariff war in America, its chocolate prices are still expected to rise in 2025 due to record-high cocoa costs, Hug said in a separate Reuters report.
Despite cocoa prices tripling over the past two years and Lindt reportedly hiking its prices to 6.3% in 2024, annual sales still grew by 7.8% last year, suggesting that shoppers are not easily deterred from splurging on their chocolates.
Fox News’ Daniella Genovese and Reuters contributed to this report.
