Canadians are swapping their friendly auras for a fierce sense of nationalism amid U.S. President Donald Trump’s attacks on the country’s trade and sovereignty.
Trump’s mostly delayed plans for 25% tariffs on Canadian goods and his calls for the country to become an American state has spurned citizens of the U.S.’s northern neighbor and key trade partner. As a result, Canadians have rejected American imports and issued other economic punishments in an unusual show of patriotism.
“It really feels for most Canadians like we’ve been backstabbed, that the person that we trusted the most is now sort of turning on us and attacking us for no apparent reason,” said Joel Bilt, an economics professor focused on international trade at the University of Waterloo in Ontario. “That has really unified people.”
Grocery stores have encouraged visitors to “shop Canadian” with signs and special labels in aisles alerting them to which products were made domestically. A popular Facebook group focused on buying Canadian-made goods first reported on by NBC News has seen its membership more than double since early February as the on-again-off-again tariff policy played out.
