Contrary to the American popular stereotype, Canadians do in fact get angry. And right now, much of the country is irate at the U.S. over tariffs that took effect just after midnight Tuesday.
Canadians are boycotting American-made goods in shops, cancelling their vacations to the U.S., booing the “Star Spangled Banner” at sporting events, and piling on Wayne Gretzky for his friendship with Donald Trump. British Columbia and Ontario have pulled all or some American liquor from the shelves of their government-owned liquor stores.
The 25% duties and most goods from Canada — 10% on energy products — have been the main subject of discussion in the country since Donald Trump proposed them in November. Ottawa retaliated with 25% tariffs on $30 billion worth of U.S. goods on Tuesday, rising to cover $125 billion of merchandise in 21 days, the CBC reported.
Canadians are infuriated not just at the hostile action by the country’s neighbor, closest ally and largest trading partner, but at the betrayal of the closer economic ties that the country agreed to when it signed the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement in 1989, followed by NAFTA in 1994. Those pacts came at a much higher economic cost to the country than to the U.S.
“For Canadians, the existential question for the past century has been ‘how close to we get the U.S. economically,’” Darren Atwater, an Ottawa-based journalist, told Quartz. “Election after election has been run on on that.”Canadians knew they were making a faustian bargain with the trade pacts: The loss of thousands of jobs as U.S. manufacturers closed their branch plants in the country, in exchange for its own firms gaining access to a large market for the first time. The results were painful, but Canadian businesses eventually thrived.
“Nobody but nobody expected the rug to be pulled,” Atwater said. “Canada shifted its entire economy for a free-trade world — and it was suddenly locked out on 90 days’ notice.”
The duties have already affected one election: The Progressive Conservative government of Ontario was returned to office last weekend with an increased parliamentary majority after Premier Doug Ford — brother of the late Toronto mayor Rob Ford — flipped from public Trump fan to anti-tariff warrior who banned all U.S.-made alcohol from liquor stores.
But the big beneficiary is the federal Liberal party, which trailed the Conservatives badly in the polls for years until recently, when it pulled slightly ahead, riding the wave of rising nationalism.
While opposition leader Pierre Poilievre held a press conference yesterday at which he declared he’s “not MAGA,” he’s been unable to shake public perceptions that his party is too close to the U.S., too sympathetic to Trump and unlikely to hold a firm line in negotiations.
“The Liberals have gained momentum by opposing Trump’s tariff threats and increasing investment in citizen-focused infrastructure,” Kevin Ford, FX & macro strategist at Convera, said in an email. Justin Trudeau’s resignation as PM also helped, he added. “Time and wait have worked in their favor.”
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