Keep it up, nasty Canadians

Globe and Mail

5 days ago

When four Canada-friendly, non-MAGA U.S. senators came to Ottawa to meet Prime Minister Mark Carney this week, Oregon's Ron Wyden advised Canada to de-escalate trade tensions by quickly making permanent changes to tax laws the U.S. doesn't like.
But elsewhere, Donald Trump's ambassador to Canada, Pete Hoekstra, said Canadians are 'mean and nasty' because they took U.S. liquor off store shelves and cancelled vacations south of the border.
So which one do you think worries Mr. Trump more?
It's not Canadian tax laws, or retaliatory tariffs – those are the things that the U.S. can push back on with threats of their own.
It's the stuff Mr. Hoekstra, exhibiting a mind-boggling lack of self-awareness, calls 'nasty.' It is Canadian customers rejecting U.S. products.
There are talks on now to reach some kind of trade deal with Mr. Trump's administration, with a supposed Aug. 1 deadline. But even if there is a deal, you can bet it won't be the end of trade disputes with Mr. Trump. The nasty things that Mr. Hoekstra complains about could be the best tool that Canada has.
The U.S. President likes to brag that he's holding the cards, and there is truth to that, especially when it comes to government-to-government negotiations. The U.S. has the bigger market and an economy less dependent on trade.
That's why Mr. Carney gave in last month and paused collection of Canada's digital services tax (DST) when Mr. Trump broke off trade talks, citing the levy. It's why Ontario Premier Doug Ford caved on his March threat to add a 25-per-cent surcharge to electricity, after Mr. Trump said he'd retaliate by raising steel tariffs to 50 per cent. (Mr. Trump later did that, anyway.)
On Tuesday, Mr. Ford called for 'dollar-for-dollar' retaliatory tariffs against the U.S., but other premiers were not so gung-ho.
Yet the premiers – and Mr. Carney – did encourage the consumer boycotts: 'Keep it up,' British Columbia Premier David Eby said.
Good advice. And there is still zeal for it among Canadians.
Tony Keller: Trump's trade policy is completely nonsensical, and entirely clear
'We're not getting as much coverage in the Canadian media, but I keep my eyes on what the U.S. press is saying, and they are starting to really notice massive drops,' said former New Democratic MP Charlie Angus, now a 'Resistance' ringleader who writes Substack essays and speaks at boycott rallies.
U.S. alcohol sales have been hit. American exports of food to Canada amounted to US$28-billion in 2024, but Mr. Angus noted that some grocery stores pulled many U.S. products from their shelves. He argued that ordinary Canadians have more tools to pressure the U.S. than political leaders.
Canadians expected Mark Carney to be a tough-talking, 'wartime' prime minister, Mr. Angus said, but 'we haven't seen that.' But he also said he realizes Mr. Carney is trying to navigate the complexities of 'dealing with a gangster regime' in Washington.
'This is where the power of the boycott is a unique political lever, because Mark Carney or Doug Ford or Daniel Smith can't tell people to stop the boycott,' Mr. Angus said.
The senators who met Mr. Carney on Monday – three Democrats and Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski, a moderate swing vote in the U.S. Senate – declared their friendship and conceded that the boycott has had an impact.
'We are seeing a decrease in the travel from Canadians to Nevada,' Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez Masto said. New Hampshire Senator Maggie Hassan even said, 'We miss you.'
That's nice. The senators had suggestions on how to settle the issue, such as Canada permanently rescinding the DST. But they didn't seem to include living up to past U.S. trade commitments – or stopping aggressive U.S. attacks on Canada's economy.
Mr. Trump, after all, has said he wants the U.S. to imposes tariffs on Canadian autos so that it becomes uneconomical to make them in this country. That's pretty nasty.
It isn't easy for Canadian political leaders to counter that kind of strong-arming. But Canadian consumers can have an impact as long as they keep being nasty.