Amazon shifts some Canadian sourcing to China to avoid tariffs

Amazon is planning for Canada to grow faster than the US over the next three years. It is also, quietly, changing where it buys the goods it sends there. Both facts come from internal documents, and both matter to anyone selling US-origin inventory into Amazon.ca.

What happened

Internal Amazon planning documents show the company expects Canadian package volume to rise by more than 40% in total between 2026 and 2029, with annual growth consistently ahead of the US, and it is funding that with more fulfilment capacity, same-day delivery and logistics build-out. A March document also says Amazon changed some Canadian direct-import sourcing from the US to China "to avoid tariffs" (Business Insider, August 26, 2026).

The context has since got harder. An additional 50% US tariff on certain Canadian imports was announced on July 20 and took effect this month, including on some goods that had been protected under USMCA. Canada's counter-tariffs on US imports start September 8 and reach consumer categories such as appliances and electronics (The Next Web, August 26, 2026).

Amazon told Business Insider it has invested more than C$65 billion in Canada since 2010, employs over 46,000 people there, and has not seen Canadian store prices move outside normal fluctuation so far.

Why it matters

A sourcing change is the clearest signal a retailer can send about landed cost. Amazon did not renegotiate with US suppliers or absorb the duty. It changed origin. Third-party sellers do not usually have that option on short notice, which is exactly why the tariff and duty line needs to be visible per marketplace rather than folded into a single blended COGS figure.

The September 8 date is the one to diary. Remote Fulfillment sellers are the most exposed, because that programme keeps inventory in US warehouses and moves units across the border after a Canadian customer orders. Duty applied at that point attaches to the individual order, so the cost shows up unevenly across the catalogue instead of arriving as one predictable inbound charge.

What to check before September 8

1. Isolate Canada in your P&L. Not a share of a North America total. Its own marketplace view, with its own fee and duty lines.
2. List every SKU shipping US-origin into Canada. Cross-reference against the retaliation categories, starting with appliances and electronics.
3. Recheck Remote Fulfillment economics per unit. The convenience of not holding Canadian stock is priced differently once duty lands per order.
4. Decide the price move now, not on September 9. Work out which SKUs can carry the duty, which need a price change, and which should come off Amazon.ca entirely.
5. Watch delivery speed, not just cost. Amazon says competitors reach 70% to 85% of Canadian households in two to four hours against its own same-day coverage of about 54.5% of Prime members. Buy Box behaviour follows delivery promise.

The Nova angle

Nova reconciles settlement data down to the unit across 21 marketplaces, so Canada reads as its own P&L rather than a rounding difference inside a North America average. See Nova Profit & Loss and custom breakdowns.