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While its not clear what President Trumps ever-shifting tariffs attack on Canada might ultimately achieve, it has already done one thing for certain: ticked off a lot of Canadians.
Thats taken the form of anti-Trump and anti-American sentiment (including the booing of the U.S. national anthem before various sporting events being played in Canada). But its also taken the form of renewed Canadian prideas witnessed by a reported spike in buying, and flying, Canadian flags. Naturally, official symbols of Canadianism arent the only option for expressing devotion to the Great White North: Consumer brands are a big part of that conversation, too.
Last month, during the reprieve between Trumps initial threat and the 25% tariff on Canadian imports kicking in Tuesday (which Trump already paused again on Thursday), a survey of Canadian consumers found 85% said that they planned to replace some or all of the U.S.-made products on their shopping lists. (Interestingly, 41% said they would avoid shopping on Amazon.) And now, it seems, many are acting on that pledge.
On Reddit and other online forums, fans of Canada-based consumer-goods companies have gathered to tout brands in seemingly every conceivable categoryfrom Hawkins Cheezies snacks (I cant believe anyone would eat a Cheeto if they had the option of Hawkins Cheezies, one fan enthused), Cove carbonated drinks as an alternative to American sodas, Stanfields underwear (founded in 1856, it bills itself as Canadian even before Canada), hipster-luxury denim brand Naked & Famous and Heartbeat Hot Sauce (On Hot Ones many times, a Redditor says) to Boo Bamboo personal-care products made with organic bamboo extract.
A “Look for the Leaf” sign near the checkout counter of a store in Toronto, March 4, 2025, guides shoppers to look for maple leaf labels, which mark made-in-Canada items. [Photo: Michelle Mengsu Chang/Toronto Star/Getty Images]
A slew of roundups and listicles have followed, showering attention on a range of Canadian brands. The Toronto Star, to pick one example, published a How to buy Canadian primer, which recommends Savör eggs, GoodLeaf Farms produce, and Royale toilet paper and tissues. Look for [dairy] products with the Blue Cow logo, the paper advised, which means theyre made with 100% Canadian milk and ingredients. Theres also a website, Made in CA, that compiles Canadian goods.
Canadian grocer Loblaws CEO Per Bank has been posting on LinkedIn about its tariffs experience, noting that weekly sales of Canadian products were up by double digits in mid-February, and recently announcing the rollout of new in-store-display features to guide shoppers to Canadian wares.
The combined desire to boycott American goods and support Canadian alternatives is, in some cases, clouded by intertwined global markets that have developed over decades of free-trade boosterism. People are directly writing into customer service asking detailed questions on whether [products] are Canadian, where they source from, and so forth, the CEO of Vancouver-based superfood latte brand Blume told Modern Retail. (Blume has been playing up its Canadianism on its site and social media lately.) But that consumer challenge is creating its own market: Several new apps with names like Buy Beaver and Maple Scan promise to reveal how Canadian a product iswhere it’s made, what its made of, etc.by scanning its barcode.
That said, there are plenty of symbolic gestures, too, like rebranding caffe Americano as Canadiano. And there have been more directly punitive responses including canceling U.S. vacations and pulling American brands from Canadian liquor stores (a move the maker of Louisville, Kentucky-based Jack Daniels calls worse than a tariff), along with retaliatory tariffs on many American imports.
The underlying sentiment isnt a matter of wonky economics; its emotional and visceral, based on a belief among many that the tariffs have nothing to do with border-security demands (as claimed) but are a blunt attempt to damage Canadas economy, and ultimately absorb the 158-year-old nation. (Trump has derisively referred to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as governor.) If Canadians are acting like theyve been betrayed by an old friend, they have good reason to feel that way.
Hours after the tariffs went into effect, CTV News interviewed several Canadian-citizen shoppers who sounded determined to defy any trade strong-arming and indeed take it as motivation to seek out Canadian-made alternatives theyd ignored or overlooked in the past. I think we should really cut them off, said one Halifax resident, speaking of American brands, and we should stay [buying] 100% Canadian. Of course, that also could mean ultimately punishing brands from other countries that have nothing to do with the U.S. tariffs. But at least one American export appears to be catching on in Canada thanks to this trade flare-up: economic nationalism.
