Buy Canadian sentiment is a groundswell response to the tariff threats from the U.S. president
www.theglobeandmail.com
It is fast becoming a common, even communal, experience for Canadians: picking up a product in the grocery store, scrutinizing the fine print on its label – and then putting it back on the shelf once the words “Made in the U.S.A” are spotted.
Ottawa and the provinces have all rolled out their own responses to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats and annexationist bluster. Some of those responses (like Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s move to slap a 25-per-cent levy on electricity exports to the United States) were withdrawn after Mr. Trump threatened to retaliate.
But Canadians have had a counter-tariff response of their own – at the check-out counter – that will be all but impossible to counter. Mr. Trump and his supporters are about to find out just how deeply upset Canadians are by his trade war and talk of turning this country into the 51st state.
The early indications are that Canadian consumers are more than willing to put their money where their patriotism is. According to a
Globe business story this week, cross-border travel is falling sharply: Statistics Canada data show that Canadians made 1.2 million fewer round-trip visits to the United States in February, a 23-per-cent drop from February, 2024.
CNN reported this week that Maine hoteliers are seeing big drops in summer bookings, some as much as 90 per cent.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis tried to mock the idea of maple-leaf tourism boycott earlier this month, saying 3.3 million Canadians had visited his state. “That’s not much of a boycott in my book,” he said.
We agree, Governor – because the number you cite was from 2024, before a U.S. President launched a trade war against his country’s biggest trading partner and closest ally. Mr. DeSantis’ misplaced braggadocio actually served to underscore the vulnerability of his state to a Canuck exodus.
If that happens (and here’s hoping), there won’t be much that Mr. DeSantis or Mr. Trump will be able to do about it. The individual choices of millions of Canadians can’t be targeted with countervailing duties.