Canadians would rather buy expensive products than use American products

Trade tensions between the US and Canada recently continued to escalate, after Washington on August 22 imposed a 50% tax on $20 billion of imported goods from the neighboring country. Three days later, Canada responded and announced a list of about 700 US products that will be subject to new import taxes of up to 50% from September 8.

President Donald Trump continued to heat up the situation on August 27 when he signed a decree changing the name of Lake Ontario between the two countries to “American lake”. The developments further fueled the wave of boycotts of American goods and services, which Canadians launched in early 2025 in response to tariff measures and Mr. Trump’s declaration that “Canada is America’s 51st state”.

“I boycotted American products as soon as Mr. Trump imposed tariffs last February. The cost of buying food increased about 50 CAD (35 USD) per week, but I only needed to work an extra hour to make up for it,” William McDonald, a 38-year-old mechanic in Thunder Bay, Ontario, told Guardian and emphasized that he always chooses Canadian products, even when it causes the cost of living to increase.

McDonald’s is not the only case. From food and beverages to technology and travel, more and more Canadians are willing to pay extra or endure inconvenience to avoid American goods and services. For them, the additional costs are an acceptable price to protest President Trump’s policies.

A July survey by the Angus Reid Institute, based in British Columbia, showed that 40% of Canadians actively check the origin of goods when buying food, with the majority trying to avoid American products if possible.

“I think you have to live in Canada to understand how hostile people here are to the US. We don’t fly on US airlines, don’t connect at US airports and only stay at hotels owned by Canadians. We shift our investments to Canadian companies, avoiding buying US products, agricultural products and food,” said Denise, a resident of Winnipeg.

Finding out the origin of goods is sometimes inconvenient and often more expensive, but Denise emphasizes that “boycotts, divestments and sanctions” are the only tools ordinary Canadians can use to protect the nation’s values.

Elizabeth Lorenz, 68, a retired teacher in Nanaimo, said she has changed her shopping habits to avoid American products. “I always read packaged food labels. If the product is made in America, I won’t buy it,” Lorenz said, using Annie’s noodles as an example. She even grew her own potatoes in her garden because it was difficult to find substitutes.

Jane, a 54-year-old teacher in Ontario province, believes that Canada-US relations have been seriously damaged and cannot be repaired. She used to often go to the city of Detroit in the US state of Michigan to watch sports and concerts and then buy food when returning to Canada, but now declares that she “will not contribute to the US economy” as long as President Trump is in power.

“Over the past year, I have accepted to drive 4 hours to Toronto to attend events that previously only took about an hour to go to the US,” Jane said.

James Buchan, 36 years old, works in the information technology industry and lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, also changed many consumer habits. He describes himself as having become “a person who has a habit of checking product labels” and choosing cosmetic brands from the province of Quebec to replace American products.

According to Buchan, Canadian fruits and vegetables and food from Mexico are quite easy to buy, but prepared dishes are more difficult to replace because this market is almost in the hands of American companies. Buchan also changed technology equipment, selling all Apple products he owned.

“Technology is the easiest thing to replace. I don’t miss my iPhone or Macbook at all,” Buchan said. He switched to using European email services, and also replaced mapping, foreign language learning and electronic calendar applications.

Marlene Gagne, who lives in Ottawa, said she renovated her house entirely using Canadian furniture and materials. She said the stairs in the house were re-carpeted by a company in Quebec, and the living room furniture was newly purchased from a business in Toronto.

Meanwhile, some Canadians continue to buy American food and goods, mainly because the price is cheaper and do not want to affect the people and businesses of neighboring countries. “I care about price first, regardless of which country the product comes from,” Ashley Taylor, who lives in Ontario, told CTV News.

A Toronto resident said he is buying more goods made in the US than before, saying Canada’s leaders are “acting contrary to the interests of the people”.

Paula Marshall said her first reaction was to boycott American products. However, she decided not to do so because “she did not want to affect ordinary people, which have nothing to do with the US President”.