Stabbed in the Back: Canadians Seethe Over Trump’s Tariff Attack

(Bloomberg) -- From the rocky shores of Newfoundland to the towering forests of British Columbia, Canadians have an unfamiliar feeling growing inside them: They are angry.

Very, very angry.  

US President Donald Trump’s decision to impose 25% tariffs on most imports from Canada has provoked an uncharacteristically fierce reaction from the country’s mild-mannered citizenry.

After Trump made it clear on Saturday he would go through with the long-threatened move, was drowned out by jeering fans at an NHL game in Ottawa and an NBA game in Toronto. Social media was flooded with calls to boycott US products.

The ire didn’t end there: Some so-called snowbirds have said they plan to put their winter homes in sunny Florida on the block. And though the tariffs could still be delayed if Trump and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau agree to an 11th-hour deal, there has already been a preview of what could follow, as Ontario vowed to tear up a contract with Starlink, the satellite company led by Trump benefactor Elon Musk. 

Canadians were already outraged at Trump’s repeated statements that the country should be the 51st US state — an idea opposed by about 90% of the population, according to one recent survey. 

For a nation that has long viewed its neighbor to the south as more than an ally, the tariffs amounted to a betrayal. 

Dylan Lobo, a 22-year-old digital media consultant in Toronto, maintains a website listing goods made in Canada. “By Canadians, For Canadians. Spend Your Money Wisely,” the suddenly very popular site advises.

Since Trump revealed the tariffs, Lobo said he’s been inundated with thousands more product suggestions from his fearful and enraged countrymen. 

“It’s sort of like an ally stabbing you in the back,” he said. 

Continental Kinship

The US and Canada share the world’s longest undefended border, covering some 5,525 miles (8,891 kilometers), a web of treaties and trade deals, and much culture.

Canadian professional sports teams participate in US leagues. Musical acts and comedians crisscross the border on North American tours. Identifying which American celebrities are actually Canadian is a favorite parlor game in Toronto and Vancouver.

That continental kinship fostered belief among Canadians that Trump wouldn’t actually go through with his threats. Though Trump placed tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum in his first term, the levies set to go into effect Tuesday — including a 10% tariff on Canadian crude oil — are of a different magnitude: Most economists predict they will tip Canada into recession.

The sense of shock among Canadians was compounded by the rationale Trump gave for putting the tariffs in effect — namely, halting the flow of illegal immigration and fentanyl into the US. Compared with Mexico, which reached a deal with Trump on Monday to delay tariffs for a month, Canada is the source of little in the way of migrants or illicit drugs.

“It almost feels like the United States is breaking up with us, and for very illegitimate reasons,” said David Coletto, the chief executive officer of Abacus Data, an Ottawa-based polling firm. 

Fundamental Change

Canadians are now preparing for the possibility that Trump wishes to fundamentally refashion the countries’ economic relationship. 

Canada’s auto industry, which has been steadily intertwining with the US for decades, will be particularly hard-hit. Ford Motor Co. first started manufacturing in Windsor, Ontario, right across the border from Detroit, during the 1920s.

“All that hard work, over a hundred years, is slowly being eroded,” said Jonathon Azzopardi, chief executive officer of Windsor-based Laval Tool. His factory is currently making Cybertruck molds that will be shipped to Tesla Inc.’s plants in Alabama or Texas. “Sometimes those relationships get broken and are never really re-established,” he said.

A ‘Made in Canada’ Facebook group saw its membership surge from 100,000 before Trump announced the tariffs to almost 550,000 on Monday, as Canadians sought ways to support homegrown companies. 

As a relatively small country in terms of population whose economy is built on trade, relying on its own consumers will only get Canada so far. The souring of the relationship with the US may mean it has to look elsewhere. 

That’s something individual Canadians like Cecile McVittie, a retired teacher who lives in Kamloops, British Columbia, are thinking about, too. McVittie said she and her family had been planning to drive their motorhome down the US West coast. 

Now, they’re changing course.

“Our travel plans from here forward are looking at using European agencies, traveling to spaces that are safer destinations, or where we would be happy to spend our money,” she said. 

The family has booked a trip to Spain, France and Belgium for the spring.

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