’I won’t back down’: How and why Canadians are boycotting the U.S.

By Tyler Bloomfield, CBC News, RCI

One of the most common things we heard from Canadians is that they have become more vigilant when it comes to reading labels in the grocery store to see where a product has been made. (File Photo: Nathália Rosa/Unsplash)

As a trade deadline with the U.S. hangs over Canada, we have been hearing about Canadians taking the ongoing trade war into their own hands. So we asked you to email ask@cbc.ca to tell us how and why you have been boycotting U.S. goods and travel. Dozens of you answered the call and told us what you’re doing.

Unsurprisingly, most mentioned searching out more Canadian products and adopting an anything but American mentality when Canadian alternatives aren’t available. You also told us about skipping out on travel to the U.S. and becoming more mindful about where you are spending your money.

‘Rabid label readers’

One of the most common things we heard from Canadians is that they have become more vigilant when it comes to reading labels in the grocery store to see where a product has been made.

I’m still checking labels to make sure everything I buy is made in Canada or a trade-friendly country, Rita Bailey told us.

Bailey also said she’s willing to take the time to research where a product comes from before buying it.

Shopping this way makes me stop and think, ‘Do I really need this?’ It has encouraged me to take a step outside the consumer culture, and that is good for my bank account and for my mental/spiritual well-being.

Larry Sharpe told us that he and his wife have been boycotting U.S. goods since the day Donald Trump was sworn into office and that the U.S. president’s latest tariff policies have only reinforced his position.

My wife and I are fervent buyers of Canadian products, almost since day one. Sharpe wrote.

We became rabid label readers.

Refusing to cross the border

Sharpe told us that his boycott extends beyond reading labels and buying Canadian. He says he won’t cross the border despite living about a 20-minute drive away.

We refuse to cross the border although we frequently did so in the pre-Trump era.

Gino Paolone also says he won’t be travelling to the U.S., despite living close to the border in Thorold, Ont., and being a frequent traveller there in the past.

I would go to the States two times every month either for shopping, gas, dinner and an annual golf trip, Paolone told CBC News. Now I refuse to go over and support their economy while they try to destroy ours.

Local alternatives

We also heard from people who are moving personal property or investments from the U.S. to Canada, cancelling streaming services, halting their snowbird migration patterns and finding alternatives in their communities.

[I] try to buy all my produce at the local farmers market, Karen Mount wrote.

When she can’t find a good Canadian option she told us she looks for a non-American substitute.

I was buying produce from Mexico during the winter, which I did not do prior to January 2025. I check to see where things are made and put them back if made in the U.S.

Mount says she’s only relented for one product during her boycott.

The only item I have caved on is Smartwool socks. They are really good.

A lifetime boycott

Others wrote to us to say they can’t ever see themselves ever going back to buying U.S. goods or travelling to the country again.

I may never shop again without making sure it’s a Canadian product, Garry Semple told CBC News.

I get angrier the more this goes on.

Rita Bailey told us something similar.

I am 75 and I can’t see this changing for the duration of my life. I won’t back down and I pray that our leaders won’t either, she said.

With files from Alisha Parchment

This article is republished from RCI.