Canada’s oldest department store chain is dropping all Ivanka Trump products.
Hudson’s Bay Company, founded in London in 1670, has already eliminated more than 150 items from its website, including clothing, shoes and jewelry. It will also phase all of the first daughter’s products out of its 90 stores across Canada in the fall.
“As part of our regular course of business, we review our merchandise offerings and make appropriate changes,” the company said in a statement. Officials cited the poor sales performance of the product line owned by the senior White House adviser.
Stores carrying any Trump family products have been the target of a boycott campaign by Canadian consumers protesting Trump administration policies. Anger about the products has been heightened by the U.S. trade war with Canada, as well as President Donald Trump’s remarks last month blasting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as “dishonest” after Trudeau told Trump that Canada “will not be pushed around.”
The boycott movement — #GrabYourWallet — was originally launched nearly two years ago in response to Donald Trump’s boast about “grabbing” women by their genitals during a conversation with the host of Access Hollywood that was leaked during the 2016 campaign. A second movement, Baycott, specifically targeted Hudson’s Bay Company.
Hudson’s Bay, which is headquartered in Toronto, is the 40th Canadian company that has dropped Ivanka Trump’s products since the boycotts were launched, according to the founder of the movement, Shannon Coulter. Hudson’s Bay did not mention the boycott campaign as a reason for its decision to jettison the products.
Hudson’s Bay also owns Lord & Taylor and Saks Fifth Avenue. But only stores in Canada will be affected by the change, according to The Guardian. Sources told Bloomberg that Ivanka Trump’s company was told of the retailer’s decision about her products last fall.
Nordstrom department stores dropped Ivanka Trump products in February 2017, also citing poor sales. The company was subsequently attacked by the president in Twitter messages. He complained that his daughter was being treated “so unfairly.” Trump’s personal attack on the business was retweeted on the White House Twitter account, but Nordstrom stock prices rose.
White House senior adviser Kellyanne Conway the following day also attacked Nordstrom on national TV— and encouraged people to buy the first daughter’s products. “I’m going to give a free commercial here,” she said. “Go buy it today, everybody. You can find it online.”
Ethics rules bar federal employees from using their positions to endorse products. Conway was “counseled” by the White House not to do it again, then-White House press secretary Sean Spicer said at the time.
Something Ivanka Trump doesn’t have to worry about are her dad’s tariffs. Her products, which are all created overseas, have not yet been affected by any of the tariffs.
