'Buy Canadian': Meet the Consumers Boycotting American Products as Trade Rift Widens

When Lynn Henderson walks into her local grocery store in British Columbia, she has one label at the top of her mind: “Made in Canada.” The 47-year-old is among a drive of Canadian consumers who are attempting to boycott U.S. products in a show of solidarity amid the ongoing trade war. “Even when I'm shopping with my toddler, he now asks specifically, ‘Oh, are these apples Canadian?’ And he will ask that before putting it in the cart,” Henderson tells TIME, noting that it’s a family effort. It costs more, she admits, but it’s worth “knowing that money is staying here in Canada and not going south at the border.”

The resurgence of the “Buy Canadian” movement comes amid a deepening U.S.-Canada trade dispute that shows no signs of waning. Canada’s retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods took effect Tuesday, with Prime Minister Mark Carney matching the economic pressure imposed by the U.S. after trade negotiations collapsed last month. The U.S. has since announced a ban on Canadian dairy, motorcycles, and most alcoholic beverages. It’s all unfolding against the backdrop of U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly talking of his ambitions to annex Canada and make it the 51st state.

While Carney’s government is going toe-to-toe with the Trump Administration, he’s urging the general population to take action, too.

“The most powerful actions have come from you: Buying Canadian and travelling in Canada,” Carney told Canadians in a national address Tuesday. “Decisions taken at the kitchen table, not the boardroom table.”

Other lawmakers have shared similar calls to action. “‘Buy Canadian’ reflects the economic solidarity Canadians are showing at a time when it matters most,” Quebec minister Joël Lightbound said in a statement to TIME. “By supporting one another and investing in what we build here at home, we are building Canada strong.”

Canadian consumers have responded en masse to the call. A Build Canada poll conducted Aug. 31-Sept. 4 found that many are already making sacrifices at the tills, as 69% of respondents reported “choosing Canadian products despite higher prices” and 55% said they had “stopped buying specific American brands.” Reports also indicate a surge in demand for Canadian products.

As the trade war stretches on, here’s what to know about the revitalized “Buy Canadian” movement, the people behind the U.S. products boycott, and what the data says about the effectiveness of the consumer-driven action.

The resurgence of the "Buy Canadian" movement

Campaigns promoting Canadian-made goods date back at least to the early 20th century, when Canadian manufacturers began pushing their “Made in Canada” products.

Among consumers, the effort has evolved into the “Buy Canadian” initiative, which encourages residents to support local businesses and industries as much as they can.

The movement skyrocketed last year in the midst of the trade war sparked by Trump’s tariffs. Businesses and consumers alike vowed to shun U.S. products, with Canada-based media publishing advisories on “how to shop Canadian."

As the tariffs loomed in February 2025, a survey by accounting firm KPMG found that 93% of consumers wanted retailers and grocery stores to identify and promote Canadian products.

In late 2025, the Canadian government launched the “Buy Canadian Policy, to protect and prioritize Canadian workers and industries, and strengthen Canada’s domestic economy.”

Henderson, a public relations consultant, says Trump’s threats against Canada’s sovereignty last year signified a turning point.

“Canadians have felt for generations that these are not just our allies, but our friends, and neighbors,” she says. “Nobody wants to be spoken about like that by their friends and neighbors. It's really hurtful.”

The reignited trade rift has revived Henderson’s passion for patriotic shopping, and she’s actively refrained from purchasing items, such as a new iPhone, that don’t align with her efforts. “I don’t want to spend that money to support an American business,” she says.

How consumers dedicated to the movement are approaching the challenge

Consumers in Canada are finding different ways to navigate how best to boycott U.S. goods and services, putting extra time in at the grocery store to ensure they are buying Canadian as often as they can.

Although she prioritizes Canadian products, Henderson is also open to items from other countries.

“We're discovering that there's some incredible produce from around the world,” she says. “We don't actually need to get oranges from the U.S. anymore, because we can get oranges from Brazil or South Africa, and they're fantastic.”

Brian Leonard, a 37-year-old who works in the coffee industry and lives in New Brunswick, is similarly passionate when he heads to the grocery store, and firmly believes in starting each day with a “Buy Canadian” mindset.

“For me, it always begins first thing in the morning with a cup of coffee. Buying coffee that is roasted locally in Canada,” Leonard tells TIME. “The first decision of your day can be something that sets up your whole day to be part of the movement.”

The way in which Canadians have been re-energized to support more local products has been “astounding,” Leonard adds. “I had a call yesterday, and the person mentioned they had switched dish soap because they realized the soap they were buying was American-made,” he says.

The topic of patriotic shopping is dominating business groups on Facebook and elsewhere, bringing further attention to the movement.

These social media groups have become a gateway for people to come together when seeking out Canadian alternatives to U.S. products. The "Made in Canada - Canadian Products" Facebook group, for example, boasts 1.4 million members. Similarly, the Reddit forum r/BuyCanadian has more than 250,000 members and nearly 7,000 weekly contributions.

For some, the efforts extend beyond trips to the grocery store and online checkouts.

Henderson is also now avoiding U.S. travel. “I live very close to the border. It used to be very common to just [cross over] and go to Seattle, go to Trader Joe's, or outlet malls, and we will not do that now,” she says. ”We’d rather explore Canada.”

Meanwhile, Shireen Jeejeebhoy, a 63-year-old writer based in Toronto, says she has also deleted WhatsApp, stopped using Zoom, and is even trying to find alternatives to Google and Apple products.

“These things are really difficult to divest yourself from,” she tells TIME, explaining that she uses the website “Unplug America”—an online initiative aimed at replacing American tech products with Canadian equivalents—for guidance. “There are some things in the digital world that Canada does not have, and so I'm looking to the U.K., the E.U., or India for alternatives.”

However, even someone as dedicated to the movement as Jeejeebhoy struggles to find alternatives for everything.

“My skin doesn't react well to most sunscreens, and as much as I've tried Canadian brands, there's only one American brand that actually works well [for me] at an SPF 50,” she says, admitting it’s proven to be difficult. “So, as much as I want to use the Canadian brand sunscreen, I have to use a particular American product.”

Leonard identifies with the struggle, admitting it can be “overwhelming to a lot of people to try to completely overhaul everything they buy,” as people have different budgets and needs.

Taking part in the movement doesn’t have to be a rigid commitment, nor does it mean you should deprive yourself of life’s little treats, the consumers who spoke to TIME agreed upon.

Is the Buy Canadian movement working? Here’s what the data says

The shift away from American products could have significant economic consequences for Canada, where the U.S. accounted for 67.2% of Canadian goods and services exports in 2025, making it the country’s largest trading partner by far.

The Bank of Montreal (BMO) estimated in April 2025, following the initial resurgence of the "Buy Canadian" movement, that the shift in consumer attitudes could redirect roughly C$10 billion to the Canadian economy annually.

“If we are directing C$10 billion or so of economic activity back into Canada, that would otherwise be bleeding out to the U.S., then that's a direct benefit,” Robert Kavcic, director and senior economist at BMO, tells TIME.

The Bank of Canada released an analysis in February “assessing the Buy Canadian movement one year later.”

It found that households had shifted their food spending away from U.S. products and towards Canadian ones. “The shift is modest but clearly visible. In March 2025—as trade tensions escalated—the proportion of food spending on Canadian products went up by approximately 2% relative to January 2025, while the proportion spent on U.S. products fell by a similar amount. And what started in March wasn’t short-lived—it persisted through the summer,” read the analysis.

Kavcic explains that “a certain share of that spending is now reallocated domestically,” thus benefiting the Canadian economy.

“I don't know if Canadians can do a lot more than what they have already, because there's a cost to that. There are certain families or workers that have to travel back and forth to the U.S., and there's a cost to buying Canadian,” he says.

Despite these challenges, statistics from the Canadian Survey on Business Conditions, for the first quarter of 2026 over the last 12 months, found that 16.6% of businesses had changed their marketing to promote Canadian products. Among retailers, the figure was 41.6%, showing a clear push toward promoting domestically made goods.