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A banner reading ‘Buy Canadian’ is held aloft by a pair of hockey sticks in front of a house in Winnipeg, in March, 2025.Ed White/Reuters
Vinyl records from Target, and cauliflower in the wintertime. These are a few things the Kawas family of New Westminster, B.C., plans to go without this year – part of the price of defending Canada’s sovereignty.
After negotiations toward a new Canada-U.S. trade deal broke down Friday night, Canadians businesses were bracing themselves for the impact of new U.S. tariffs of 50 per cent on US$20-billion worth of Canadian exports, including wood products and wine. But many members of the Canadian public were also feeling ready to participate in what has become a full-on trade war.
They included Edward Kawas, a software engineer with VRIFY in Vancouver and a married father of two. On Sunday, Mr. Kawas praised the decision by Prime Minister Mark Carney to abandon a lopsided negotiation with the Americans. “I thought the [proposed] deal sounded terrible, and was hoping that Carney would back away,” Mr. Kawas said. “I started dancing when I saw the news.”
On the weekend, Mr. Carney characterized the situation between the two countries as war: “You are at war when you get attacked,” he said. “We got attacked.” Mr. Carney promised retaliatory tariffs, beginning Sept. 8, against American exports to Canada.
The move found Mr. Kawas in a defiant, elbows-up mood. He said his household has avoided American products since U.S. President Donald Trump was re-elected in late 2024, and they intend to double down. “We offered everything and got nothing in return,” Mr. Kawas said of the negotiations.
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He counted off items to avoid including vinyl records for his daughter, from Target in the U.S., and produce. “Often the only cauliflower is American,” he said. “But sometimes we’ll just have to do without. And I’m telling the kids – we aren’t going to be buying all the things you see in those videos.”
This weekend, B.C. Premier David Eby and Ontario Premier Doug Ford both articulated support for Mr. Carney’s position, while the premiers of Quebec, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island all called for residents of those provinces to buy local.
This reflects a deepening of consumers’ behaviour of the past few years. One highly visible example has been tourism. During Mr. Trump’s second term, Canadians’ trips to the U.S. dropped 25 per cent from 2024 to 2025; figures for this June showed only a slight reversal of that trend.
At the same time, Mr. Trump’s newly imposed tariffs are likely to batter Canadian businesses, particularly manufacturers.
“I know there will be an impact on Canadians, regardless of where they live or what they do for a living,” said Rick Porayko, 64, of Winnipeg. “If we can’t sell steel, we may no longer employ truck drivers. There’s a big ripple effect.”
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But Mr. Porayko, who is retired from the aerospace industry, said he is prepared to take some financial pain. “I think our taxes will go up; we’ll have to pay for social services,” he said. “But I’m ready to do that. I’m ready to do my part so we don’t capitulate to the United States.”
Stephen Kathnelson, 72, a retired publishing executive in Vancouver, said that “it’s going to be challenging for many people.” Mr. Trump “is a vengeful and mercurial individual,” he said, “and I’m sure the situation is going to escalate.” Mr. Kathnelson said his household “will be able to manage the economic shocks” and supports Ottawa’s decision to stand firm, especially given U.S. demands to constrain Canadian trade with other nations. “That was a point from which we could not retreat,” Mr. Kathnelson said. “We are a sovereign country.”
In Mont-Tremblant, Que., Antoine Lefaivre described this standoff as “the moment of truth” for the U.S.-Canada relationship. “We’re either going to stand up to this bully or we’re going to stand up for ourselves, he added. Mr. Lefaivre said he and many neighbours are concerned for the economic shocks to come. “Quebec is particularly going to be hard hit, and small to medium-sized manufacturers are going to get hammered.”
But the U.S.-Canada relationship is compromised for years to come, “and we might as well dig in our heels,” he said. Mr. Lefaivre, 72, is a retired strategist in the health care industry who spend much of his career working with and for Americans. He said Mr. Trump’s attacks on Canada generate “a sense of betrayal.”
“It’s sort of personal, you know? It’s very hurtful because we were so close. It’s condescending, it’s belligerent. I think [many] Quebeckers feel much the same way.” He said Mr. Trump’s hostility has deepened his own patriotism. This summer, “I got a Canadian flag and hung it up on my dock,” Mr. Lefaivre said. “It took me 72 years to do that.”
With a report from The Canadian Press