{"id":222497,"date":"2026-08-30T04:42:45","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T04:42:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/if-its-made-in-the-us-i-dont-buy-it-canadians-on-boycotting-trumps-america-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2026-08-30T04:42:45","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T04:42:45","slug":"if-its-made-in-the-us-i-dont-buy-it-canadians-on-boycotting-trumps-america-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/if-its-made-in-the-us-i-dont-buy-it-canadians-on-boycotting-trumps-america-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018If it\u2019s made in the US, I don\u2019t buy it\u2019: Canadians on boycotting Trump\u2019s America – The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"

Avoiding US goods and services \u2013 from tech to whisky to air travel \u2013 has forced many to find a new way of living
For William McDonald, 38, a diesel mechanic from Thunder Bay, Ontario, \u201cCanadian is always the first choice,\u201d even if it means his weekly bills are higher.
\u201cAs soon as Trump started putting those tariffs on in February [last year], I started boycotting US goods,\u201d he said. \u201cAvoiding American products has driven my costs up, and I\u2019m still happy to do it.
\u201cI used to drink US beer, but now I drink Canadian beer, and that costs me an extra C$1,000 (\u00a3531\/US$720) a year. Likewise, groceries cost about C$50 more a week, but you work that extra hour to pay for it.\u201d
McDonald likened Donald Trump\u2019s behaviour towards Canada<\/a> as \u201ca lot like the schoolyard bully yelling and stomping their feet when they don\u2019t get the cowering reaction they expect\u201d.
This week the US imposed 50% tariffs on US$20bn (\u00a315bn) of Canadian goods, and Mark Carney, the country\u2019s prime minister, has vowed to match them \u201cdollar for dollar\u201d<\/a> after the collapse of trade talks between the two countries last weekend. Donald Trump retaliated on Thursday by ordering the federal government to rename Lake Ontario to Lake America<\/a>.
Such actions have added fuel to a widespread boycott of US products and services by Canadians<\/a> that began early last year in response to the president\u2019s trade war and threats to annex his northern neighbour<\/a>.
More than 3,500 people from across Canada shared with the Guardian via an online callout how they have made changes to their lives in response to the US administration\u2019s political and economic stance. Many expressed deep anger and sadness, but remained resolute that this was now a new way of living.
Buying only Canadian groceries, including fresh produce, and boycotting travel south of the border featured heavily among the responses. Respondents have stopped paying for US technology; streaming services provided by Netflix, AmazonPrime, AppleTV and Disney+; petrol; vehicles such as Teslas; and whiskies including Jack Daniel\u2019s. Social media sites including X, Facebook and Instagram were also being avoided.
In July, an Angus Reid survey found 40% of grocery shoppers were actively checking where products came from<\/a>, and most of those avoiding US products where possible.
The ABUS (Anything but US) or ABUSA (Anywhere but USA) acronyms and \u201cElbows Up!\u201d slogan \u2013 a hockey term for offering a stiff defence \u2013 began appearing in Canada last year.
\u201cI think you need to be in Canada to understand how deep the animosity to the US is \u2026 even across the political spectrum,\u201d said Denise from Winnipeg, Manitoba.
\u201c\u2018Elbows up\u2019 is a real thing. We don\u2019t fly US airlines, we stay in locally owned hotels, we won\u2019t even connect in a US airport \u2026 we\u2019ve moved investments to Canadian companies, and we actively avoid USA products, produce and groceries. It can be pretty inconvenient to do the research and read signs and labels, and often more costly, but BDS [boycott, divestment, sanction] is the only tool ordinary people have to stand up for our values.\u201d
Elizabeth Lorenz, 68, a retired teacher who lives in Nanaimo, British Columbia, <\/strong>said she would change a recipe to work around a lack of certain ingredients.
\u201cI read labels on packaged food, and if it\u2019s made in the US, I don\u2019t buy it,\u201d she said. \u201cAnnie\u2019s Pasta is an example of a product I no longer purchase.
\u201cGrocery stores are increasingly offering more produce from Mexico, Peru, Guatemala, Chile and South Africa. Although this means the transportation of this produce has contributed to more environmental degradation than if I were to buy American produce, my outrage at America\u2019s greed and corruption trumps (apologies for the pun) my environmental concerns.\u201d
She has planted yams and sweet potatoes in her garden \u201csince only American-grown yams and sweet potatoes are available\u201d, she said.
Jane, 54, a teacher, was one of many who believed the relationship between the US and Canada had been badly damaged, perhaps beyond repair.
\u201cI definitely will not support America economically while this administration is in power and, to be honest, I may not ever again,\u201d she said.
\u201cThe relationship, in my eyes, has been permanently tarnished.\u201d
Jane has been buying only Canadian groceries and alcohol for more than a year and has also stopped travelling to the US, opting for a longer journey to see sports in Canada.
\u201cI have been vacationing in Mexico and the Dominican Republic and Europe instead,\u201d said Jane, who lives in Camlachie, Ontario. \u201cI used to go to Detroit for sporting events or concerts and would pick up gas and groceries before returning to Canada. For more than a year, I have been driving four hours to Toronto for those events that I normally would drive only an hour to in the US.\u201d
She said at first making the changes to non-US goods was \u201cquite challenging\u201d but she uses apps and online forums which direct her to Canadian options.
Among the many US products Jane has replaced with Canadian equivalents are Heinz Tomato Ketchup, Kraft Cheese and Charmin toilet paper. She uses the apps CanMade \u2013 Canadian Made, Buy Beaver and O SCANada: Buy Canadian. She also uses the website madeinca.ca<\/a>.
\u201cGrocery shopping is now easier as stickers are used to indicate place of origin,\u201d she said. \u201cChecking origin of product information has become second nature to me now.\u201d<\/strong>
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The same is true of James Buchan, 36, who works in IT, lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia and describes himself as \u201ca habitual label reader\u201d.
\u201cAll Procter & Gamble and Colgate products have been replaced by Attitude and Lavo products from Quebec,\u201d he said.
\u201cCanadian produce is quite easy to get hold of, and we can get food from Mexico, but ready-made meals are more difficult to find, as the US has it on lock. So making the change could be more difficult for some.\u201d
He also did a clearout of his tech. \u201cI sold all my Apple products: a year-old MacBook, iPhone, AirTags and AirPods, and replaced them with alternatives,\u201d he said. \u201cTech was the easiest \u2013 I do not miss my iPhone or Mac at all.\u201d
He switched his email providers to European-based ones and has done the same for his mapping applications, language-learning apps and calendar. He also left Facebook, Reddit, Instagram and WhatsApp.
Kurt, 61, a retired engineer who lives in Calgary, Alberta, said his whiskey-tasting group \u201cspent a small fortune\u201d annually on American whiskies \u2013 in the region of US$10,000.
\u201cSince \u2018Liberation Day\u2019<\/a> and the first round of tariffs, we decided one way of expressing our distaste is not to buy American whiskies,\u201d he said. \u201cSo since then we\u2019ve spent US$0.00. Amazingly, we just stumbled on a whole new batch of Canadian equivalents. We didn\u2019t realise the range and quality of stuff available locally. So we\u2019ve got no intention of ever going back.\u201d
He is also now a \u201cvigorous\u201d label checker, but added this was not always straightforward, citing the US company Kraft, which has a Canadian operation, employs Canadians, and \u201cuses Canadian materials and ingredients when they can\u201d.
\u201cIt actually pains me to buy a product that, yes, it\u2019s made here in Canada, but we know their revenues are going back to the company in the States,\u201d he said.
His wife also no longer drinks California wine, and despite being \u201cfrequent visitors for 30-plus years\u201d to the US, Kurt said they have not been there since January 2025.
Many who got in touch with the Guardian felt that trust had been broken irrevocably with their US neighbour.
\u201cI won\u2019t go back to buying US products, even if the regime changes, because the US is unreliable and untrustworthy,\u201d said Sarika, 61, an academic who lives in Vancouver.
\u201cIt\u2019s a shame, as many of us in the border regions have friends across the border, and we don\u2019t want to see their businesses and towns suffer, but perhaps Americans will now get a little more involved in voting for and enabling a more fair and just government and trade system.\u201d
Vikram, 51, who works at a finance firm and lives in Toronto, said he refused to travel to the US even though he has family there. They visit him instead. He also avoids US products and is now boycotting Amazon.
He reflected the sentiment of many who found the turn of events lamentable.
\u201cI find it quite sad that Canadians are forced to do this as a protest against these ridiculous threats to our sovereignty, but I\u2019m not sure how else to react,\u201d he said. \u201cWe cannot go back to looking at our relationship with the US as it was before, because things have changed. We need to shift focus for our own protection and to maintain our sovereignty and control over our economy.\u201d
Kurt, however, sounded a quiet note of optimism.
\u201cWe\u2019re going to look back, and we\u2019re going to say, you know what, it was painful, and it was a shock, especially to have your best friend turn on you, but it was the best thing that could ever happen to us,\u201d he said. \u201cCanada will be stronger and healthier after all this is over.\u201d
William also took some solace from how he feels things have changed in Canada.
\u201cAfter years of internal division in our country, it\u2019s nice to finally see something bind us together again,\u201d he said. \u201cI guess sometimes it just takes a mutual enemy to find one\u2019s resolve.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Avoiding US goods and services \u2013 from tech to whisky to air travel \u2013 has forced many to find a new way of livingFor William McDonald, 38, a diesel mechanic from Thunder Bay, Ontario, \u201cCanadian is always the first choice,\u201d even if it means his weekly bills are higher.\u201cAs soon as Trump started putting those […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":222498,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-222497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222497\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}