Canadian cold shoulder: Trump's antics anger our otherwise polite neighbor

USA Today

15-03-2025

Canadian cold shoulder: Trump's antics anger our otherwise polite neighbor
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US national anthem booed at NBA, NHL games in Canada
The U.S. national anthem was booed at multiple sporting events across Canada in reaction to President Donald Trump's tarriffs.
MOAB, Utah ‒ Americans are getting the cold shoulder from our neighbors to the north.
Canadians are learning to "Buy Beaver" instead of U.S.-made products. They're jeering our national anthem at hockey games. And tourists appear to be heeding their prime minister's suggestion that they skip vacations to Florida and other stateside vacation spots.
"Honestly, it's top of mind for everyone in Canada. It's what everyone is talking about," said Christopher Dip, 29, an app developer in Montreal. "But as Canadians, we're also very polite so we're maybe not saying 'F.U.'"
Canadians are furious over President Donald Trump's posturing and on-again, off-again tariff trade war. Many were particularly insulted when he even suggested that Canada become the 51st state, run by his golf buddy and retired hockey great Wayne Gretzky.
It's gotten so bad Canadians have been booing the American National Anthem during hockey games.
The impacts are already being felt in the United States, where many Canadian tourists have cancelled vacations. U.S. government statistics show the number of Canadians crossing the border dropped 12.5% in February compared to 2024, with a particularly sharp fall-off in drivers, down more than 15% compared to last year.
In Moab, a popular late-winter destination for Canadians, several tour operators said they've seen multiple cancellations worth tens of thousands of dollars.
Other impacts: Canadian backlash erupts over Trump's tariffs. Trade war hits wine, spirits. What's next?
"They're writing in, saying 'I can no longer in good conscience do business with American businesses,'" said Lorenzo McGregor, 45, the co-owner of Tex's Riverways boat shuttle service here. "And then we've just had some angry responses (saying) 'you probably voted for this, so this is what you get.'"
McGregor said he's seen about $10,000 in cancellations from Canadians, whose presence is so notably absent that his company hasn't started shuttling passengers down the Colorado River into Canyonlands National Park, as it normally would this time of year. Other tour operators in Moab said they've also had Canadian cancellations.
Outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau earlier this month said his nationa had been offended by Trump's talk, and he called on his fellow Canadians to avoid visiting the U.S. The dispute has boosted Trudeau's Liberal Party, which has been slumping in the polls since 2021 but now leads the opposition Conservatives by a narrow margin.
"Canadians are hurt. Canadians are angry. We're going to choose not to go on vacation in Florida or Old Orchard Beach (Maine) or wherever," Trudeau said at a news conference.
Not everyone has cancelled their trips. Mountain biker Stephen Krause, 51, a retired oil industry tech worker from Edmonton, said he his wife stuck with their planned two-month road trip around the American southwest. "It's warmer here than Canada and there's no snow."
He acknowledged the fraught relationship between the two countries, but said so far things have been going ok.
"People have not mentioned the words hockey or politics at all," he said.
In Montreal, in response to the outrage, Dip, the app developer, did what app developers do, and built an app with colleague Alexandre Hamila that helps Canadians identify Canadian-made products. The app is called "Buy Beaver," after the country's national animal.
Introduced about a month ago, the app already has more than 100,000 downloads, which is the Canadian equivalent of about 1 million downloads in the United States, they said. Hamila and Dip said app users fall into two camps: Some want to avoid American-made products in general, and others who specifically want to buy Canadian.
Canada is among the biggest trading partners of the United States, buying more than 17% of total U.S. exports in 2022, while also selling the U.S. more than $430 billion in products, according to federal statistics.
"You actually see people crouching down in the aisles, people checking products one by one, checking the labels, seeing where they're made," Hamila said. "People are trying to find solutions to hit the U.S. economy."
Dip said a small number of young Canadians he knows are open to the concept of becoming part of the United States, but said older Canadians are more patriotic.
"The people who seem most pissed are the older ones," he said. "The feeling we're getting, the messages we're getting, is that they're never going to support Americans again. For them, it seems irreversible."