Canada's escalating trade dispute with the United States has transformed into a defence of national sovereignty, uniting Canadians behind Prime Minister Mark Carney. When the Guardian asked Canadian readers whether they planned to boycott US products after dramatic escalations in the ongoing trade war, more than 2,000 responses were received within 12 hours.
This inundation is perhaps evidence of the existential crisis many Canadians feel they now face, something often lost in the granular reporting of trade negotiations: this is about so much more than the price of lumber.
From tariffs to existential confrontation
Assailed by a US president who has repeatedly expressed a desire to consume Canada into a supersized 51st state, the country has felt perpetually on the brink of war – albeit an economic one – since Donald Trump's early second-term tariff salvo in February 2025. This culminated in Canada's finance minister announcing tit-for-tat tariffs on key American industries yesterday.
Canadian PM Mark Carney has emerged as a leader whose refusal to be dominated by Trump is underpinned by an ambition to reorder global politics.
The United States and Canada have enjoyed one of the strongest bilateral relationships in recent history. They share the longest unprotected border in the world, along with deep trading, security and cultural ties. But the second Trump presidency has brought about a fundamental breach in the shared values and understanding that once united the two nations. Trump has repeatedly threatened to annex Canada, as he yearns to access its critical minerals.
Carney's strategy and the collapse of talks
Carney, a former Governor of the Bank of England, was sworn in as prime minister last year in the midst of Trump's tariff wars, having never held elected public office before. He has since become the first western leader to openly acknowledge the hazard Trump poses to the global order. In a high-profile January speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, he urged “middle powers” like Canada to “act together, because if we're not at the table, we're on the menu.”
Last Tuesday, Trump declared a “DEAL” with Canada was in its final stages. Trump delayed for three days the swingeing import taxes he was threatening to impose, which would have affected everything from anoraks to Christmas ornaments. The White House said in July that these 50% tariffs were in retaliation for “discriminatory treatment” by Canada.
On Friday, Canadian officials agreed a deal was still close, yet 24 hours later the whole thing fell apart. Canada walked out of negotiations hours before the 50% tariffs on roughly $20bn (£14.6bn) of Canadian goods kicked in on Saturday, with Carney accusing the US of using “economic integration as a weapon”. Yesterday, Canada pledged to roll out “dollar-for-dollar” retaliatory tariffs on hundreds of US goods next month, prompting Trump to denounce the nation as “difficult and unreasonable”.
National unity and boycott movement
Carney's position was that the US was breaching a red line on French language protection. Currently, Canadian rules require companies operating in Quebec, its predominantly Francophone province, to provide French-language goods and services to help protect its cultural identity. These stipulations have frustrated US negotiators.
Polling over the weekend found strong majority support for Carney's stance in every Canadian province, and a mood of steadfast defiance can be read across Canada's media. “The coming period will be hard and the damage may be awful but no one should ignore what is at stake. A free Canada is worth the sacrifice,” declared an editorial in the Globe and Mail.
“What we see now is near uniform support for the prime minister,” says Leyland, “and immense feelings of national unity”. This even extends to successionist Quebec, where support for independence from the rest of Canada is at its lowest level in decades.
Carney – who has consolidated support for his previously ailing Liberals – is enjoying “a key political win” Leyland says, defending totemic language rights that are seen as integral to Canada's cultural fabric. But his refusal to bow to US demands is part of a broader strategy. “What we're seeing right now is the logical extension of that [Davos] speech, which was a warning and also laying the groundwork for how Canada would conduct itself”. For now, Carney is strengthening trade ties with China and the EU, to the chagrin of US negotiators.
“The message is that Canada has long enjoyed a very beneficial relationship with the US and that's over,” says Leyland. “Now we will walk away from the table if there is any erosion of our sovereignty.”
Compare this Canadian unity with the domestic reaction south of the border: with the midterms looming, Trump is reportedly heading for a tariff-shaped clash with Senate Republicans. As venerable economist Paul Krugman pointed out yesterday: “The US is far more dependent on Canadian goods than most Americans realise.”
“There's an asymmetric aim in this war,” says Leyland, “which is that Canada is fighting for its sovereignty, its national identity.” The US, meanwhile, is just “fighting for cheaper goods”.
This perhaps explains why boycotting US goods has such visceral and consistent support among Canadians. A grassroots boycott has emerged as a consumer-driven response to the tariff war, with supermarket scanning apps like Maple Scan springing up to help users buy Canadian.
Leyland is a parent of two young kids who like to eat berries – now he analyses every package in the grocery aisle to work out where they were grown. “I remember there was a period when US berries were on the steepest discount because they just weren't selling.”
And the decline of cross-border tourism has had a fairly devastating effect on American businesses. After Canadian visitor numbers fell by 26% in 2025, New York state launched a “NY loves Canada” promotional campaign this month to woo back its northern neighbours.
“Every Canadian knows that this is not a fight that they want to be in”, says Leyland “but right now they believe it's a fight worth having”. Weekend polling revealed a public who feel “frustrated”, “angry” and “exhausted” after 18 months of tariff turmoil. But, like their premier, they have no intention of backing down.
