Canada says too little, too late as Trump flip-flops on tariffs

Not long after the US imposed their tariffs on Canada, a local neighbourhood pub in Toronto began removing all American products off their menu.

That means nachos, wings – and of course, beer – must all be made now with local Canadian ingredients, or wherever not possible, non-US products from Europe or Mexico.

For Leah Russell, manager at Toronto’s Madison Avenue pub, the boycott was a no-brainer. She adds that it is “pretty set in stone,” even if the tariffs themselves are not.

“I’m glad that we’re getting rid of American products and supporting local businesses,” Ms Russell told the BBC on Thursday. “I think it’s an important thing to do.”

This defiant stance in response to President Donald Trump’s tariffs and threats against Canada has been unfolding across the northern country, even as it braces for economic blowback that it could ultimately do little to avoid in the event of a full-blown trade war.

Just ask actor Jeff Douglas, once the face of Molson Canadian Beer’s “I Am Canadian” advertisements, who has filmed and posted a light-hearted, but deeply-patriotic video on Youtube this week addressing Trump’s “51st state” rhetoric.

“We’re not the 51st anything,” declares Mr Douglas in the video, which has since gone viral in Canada.

Some of the backlash has been more symbolic, like one Montreal café changing the Americano on their menu to a “Canadiano” – a small gesture that the owners say is meant to display unity and support for their community and country.

Even the CBC, the country’s public broadcaster, is feeling the full force of this wave of patriotism, after it dared run a programme asking Canadians what they think about Canada becoming “the 51st state”, as Trump has suggested many times.

The show sparked intense backlash and accusations of “treason,” “sedition” and even “betrayal”.

Although Trump has since lifted some of the tariffs imposed this week and put others on pause until 2 April, many Canadians say the damage has already been done.

After Thursday’s reversal, foreign minister Melanie Joly told CNN that Canada has been shown “too much disrespect by the Trump administration at this point, calling us a 51st state, calling our prime minister ‘governor.'”

Meanwhile, Doug Ford, who is the leader of Canada’s most populous province, did not back down from his plan to slap export tariffs on electricity that Canada supplies some US states. The 25% surcharge will affect up to 1.5 million American homes.

“I feel terrible for the American people because it’s not the American people, and it’s not even elected officials, it’s one person,” he told a local radio show on Thursday in reference to Trump.

“He’s coming after his closest friends, closest allies in the world and it’s going to absolutely devastate both economies,” Ford said.

Canadians support their country’s reciprocal actions, saying they should remain in place until US tariffs are completely off the table.

“You go to bed every night and don’t have any idea where you stand,” said Andrew, a shopper at a Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) store in Toronto, which has stopped stocking US-made alcoholic drinks, like bourbon from Kentucky. Trump says he will delay the tariffs, “but what does that mean?” he asks.

“Let’s keep [American-made drinks] off the shelves until we know what things are going to be from day to day.”

The tariffs have been met with deep anxiety in Canada, whose majority of exports are sold to companies and clients in the US. Officials predict up to a million job losses if a 25% across the board levy went ahead, while economists warn that a recession is imminent if they persist.

The potential impact is devastating enough that the Canadian government has announced it will bring in relief measures, similar to those implemented during the Covid-19 pandemic, to help impacted individuals and businesses.

Even with the tariffs being scaled back temporarily, the uncertainty alone is hurting both American and Canadian economies, says Rob Gillezeau, an assistant professor of economic analysis and policy at the University of Toronto.

“The most sensitive thing to uncertainty is business investment,” Prof Gillezeau says, adding that firms are “not going to want to spend a dime anywhere” until they have some clarity.

Analysts suggest the mere whiff of a trade war is likely costing Canadian companies hundreds of thousands of dollars as they try to navigate through these changes, and are likely delaying deals and disrupting trade due to the confusion.

That trepidation is also seen in the stock market, which had erased virtually all its gains since Trump won the presidency in November.

Trump has repeatedly said that tariffs are a response to Mexico and Canada’s role in the fentanyl crisis, which has killed over 250,000 American since 2018.

While only a small portion of the drug originates from Canada, press secretary Karen Leavitt said that even those numbers are significant for “families in this country who have lost loved ones to this deadly poison”. Even small amounts of fentanyl can kill large number of people, she added.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has condemned the tariffs, suggesting they align with Trump’s stated desire to see Canada become “the 51st state.”

“What he wants is to see a total collapse of the Canadian economy, because that’ll make it easier to annex us,” Trudeau told media in Ottawa Thursday.

Prof Gillezeau notes that it is an especially deep wound from a neighbour whom Canada had long considered its closest friend and ally.

The US and Canada have fought wars together, have boasted about having the longest “undefended” shared border in the world and have even engaged in joint security missions in the Arctic to defend each other’s sovereignty.

“We’ve been allies for 100 years,” he says, adding that many Canadians are likely upset not just with how the US has been treating Canada, but also other allies like Ukraine.

“We’re a decent, honourable people, and we stand by our allies,” Prof Gillezeau says. “I think that’s what is driving the real depth of the discontent we see.”

The Canadian boycotts are already having material impact. Canadian outlet Global News has reported that leisure travel bookings to the US have plunged 40% year over year, citing data from Flight Centre Canada. That decline has also been observed in land border crossings between British Columbia and Washington State.

Before the tariffs, the US was the number one international travel destination for Canadians, who have spent $20.5bn (£15.89bn) into the American tourism economy in 2024 alone.

Asked if this trend will hold, Prof Gillezeau says Canadians ideally want relations to go back to normal with their neighbour. But in absence of that, the consensus in the country is that “Canada needs to find friends elsewhere”.