Toronto – Victor Meunier bought in his neighborhood supermarket for food in his supermarket in his supermarket and reached for a broccoli. It was imported from the United States.
Meunier took off the broccoli and, according to the packs of mushrooms, grabbed a different label: “Product of Canada”.
It was a small resistance to the Trump administration and its sudden refreshment of the long -term alliance between the two nations.
Since taking office last month, President Trump has transformed Kanada into a punching bag and threatened high tariffs on his goods and insists that he is serious when he says that he wants to annex the country to get it America's 51st state make.
“You would be much better off,” Trump said a few days ago about Canadian and added that Canada was “not portable as a country” without US trade.
President Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speak before a NATO meeting in England in 2019.
(Frank Augstein / Associated Press)
Hilly about such a conversation from a nation that is supposed to be her closest friend. Produce normally.
With the support of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other leaders, the boycott wins ground. Buyers throughout the country do without fruits and vegetables in California in favor of more local tariffs, and bargains exchange Kentucky Bourbon for Canadian rye.
“Trump causes a lot of trouble,” said Mary Brock, another buyer who kept products away from her car in the supermarket in downtown Toronto. “I would like to do my part.”
President Trump “causes a lot of trouble,” said Mary Brock, a buyer in Canada who avoids US products. “I would like to do my part.”
(Denis Calnan / for the time)
The tensions with the USA – which were divided this week when Trump announced tariffs for all imported steel and aluminum, a measure that will particularly violate Canada have inspired both a feeling of betrayal and patriotism.
A Opinion poll At Angus Reid Institute, a 10-point jump in the Canadian percentage found that they were “very proud” in their country compared to two months. Nine out of ten respondents stated that Canada should reduce its dependence on the United States.
Experts said that Trump's aggression had contributed to combining a country that had been divided deeply over Trudeau's leadership in the past few months. It also triggered the search for the search for what it means to be Canadians.
This rich country, in which 2 out of 5 residents are immigrants or children of immigrants, has long been proud of what Trudeau once referred to as a “post-national” identity with a mixture of languages, religions and cultures.
But even if the Canadians do not always agree on a common vision for what they are, the blow against Trump has shown that they can agree on what they are not.
“Canadians don't want to be an American,” said Duane Bratt, political scientist at Mount Royal University in Calgary. “We share a lot of links with the USA, but we have so many differences. Health policy. School shots. We like not to have that many weapons. ”
Trump signs are attached to a tree in Pittsburg, NH, near the Canadian border.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
A similar reflection took place in other events, including the 1995 Quebec referendum, when the Canadians gathered in order to keep the province part of the federation, and the country's decision, the Iraq invasion of the USA from the year To suspend 2003.
But Trump feels different. Although many first wondered whether his threats of tariffs were a bluff and his proposal that the USA was a canada was a joke, there is a growing sense that it must be taken seriously.
Trudeau recently told a group of business leaders that he believes that Trump's speech, Canada was a “real thing” because the American President of Canada's minerals. It also corresponds to Trump's declared wish to take control of the Panama Canal and Greenland, possibly with military violence.
“This is an external threat that I don't believe that most of the living Canadians felt or saw,” said Howard Ramos, a political sociologist at Western University in Ontario.
Days after he was elected in a second term in November, Trump said that he would order 25% tariffs for all goods from Canada and Mexico – punishment because the countries had not done enough to combat fentanyl smuggling or illegal immigration.
Trudeau struck back and said that less than 1% fentanyl and less than 1% of the illegal transitions to the United States come from Canada. He vowed to take revenge with tariffs for American goods, with products from republican congress districts concentrated.
He asked fellow citizens to no longer drink the orange juice in Florida, to cancel the summer vacation to the USA and to avoid products produced there. “Now is … the time to choose Canada,” he said. “There are many ways for you to do your part.”
But Trudeau also expressed a feeling of disillusionment from many here – as if the relationship they had to the United States was not what it seemed.
Canadian, he said, would have waged wars next to Americans. They had sent help to help the victims of hurricane Katrina and airplanes to combat California forest fires.
“We were always there and stood with you,” said Trudeau.
The prospect of a trade war threatened until February 4, until the tariffs came into force. And the president agreed to postpone the tariffs for 30 days.
The crisis was averted – for the time being. But something had shifted in Canada. The campaign to buy local purchase has been expanded, with news agencies instructing consumers to read product labels. There was a growing feeling that the Canadians were surprising for four years, from an disrespectful and unpredictable American guide.
These fears were underlined on Monday when Trump announced that he increased tariffs for steel and aluminum imports to 25%.
A production line worker at the work in Martinrea in Woodbridge, Canada, on February 3, 2025. The system delivers car parts in Canada and the USA Auto parts
(Chris Young / Associated Press)
Canada is a great exporter of both metals. The Canadian steel producers Assn. The proposed taxes “threaten jobs and communities nationwide”.
The tensions with the new US government come for Canada a politically fragile time led by a party looking for a new leader.
Trudeau was forced to collect his resignation last month after his approval rate to historical lows about Canada's sluggish economy, a real estate crisis and the concern for the country Immigration level.
Anyone who replaces him as a leader of the liberal party will be the next prime minister. Soon afterwards, this person will be exposed to a general elections and a strong challenge of the conservative party.
Experts said that the choice is probably dominated by a question: Who can best count Trump?
Politicians from all over the spectrum have tried to present themselves as defenders of Canada's sovereignty.
Mark Carney, the favorite, who replaces Trudeau as head of the liberal party, said that Canada would not “integrate”: “We will rise to a bully.”
The leader of Ontario, Doug Ford, has carried a hat that says that “Canada is not for sale”.
The survey of the Agnus Reid Institute showed that the threat to tariff in recent years when Covid 19 pandemic had attracted more attention than any news event. Talks about the relationship between the two countries have turned in schools, jobs and even drinking companies.
Samia Saad said that she was sad about the aggression of President Trump. “It shouldn't be that way,” she said in Toronto. “We shouldn't be an enemy.”
(Denis Calnan / for the time)
In the Super Bargain Cocktail and the Snack Bar in the city center of Toronto, bartender Daniel Sousa said fewer orders for bourbon in the past few weeks.
Samia Saad sat at the end of a bar and drank a beer brewed in Canada. She had avoided US products, but said she hoped tensions between the nations.
“It shouldn't be that way,” she said. “We shouldn't be an enemy. It makes no sense. “
The special correspondent Calnan reported on Linthicum von Toronto and Times Staff Writer from Mexico city.