1 year into Trump 2.0, ‘Buy Canadian’ movement continues to resonate among Canadians -- and some Europeans, too

Nearly a year after calls to become the 51 state and U.S tariffs on Canadian products prompted a shop local movement. Tyler Barrow reports.

One year into the age of Buy Canadian, a retail expert says many Canadians remain committed to buying Canadian as much as they can -- if only they could afford to.

On Jan. 20, 2025, Donald Trump was sworn into office and soon -- after musing about Canada becoming the 51st state and announcing a punishing series of tariffs -- he had Canadians swearing off American booze, food, travel and even online retailers.

Retail analyst Bruce Winder of Bruce Winder Retail said in an interview with CTV News that one year in, feelings remain strong among Canadians.

“Folks thought it would wane a little bit, sort of about a year ago after the trade dispute started, that it would sort of taper off after a few weeks or months,” Winder said. “But, according to all the research I’ve read, it’s still fairly strong.”

“One of the things that might be a little tougher, though, for people who want to buy Canadian is our economy right now,” Winder said. “Inflation’s a little high, wages haven’t kept up with rents (and) so for certain consumers, they might want to buy Canadian, but they might not be able to afford it.”

Winder said in an early January interview with CTV that the trade war has turned Canada’s retail market into a “two-tiered” economy.

“That dictates what products, what retailers, what services, are doing well, versus which ones are struggling,” said Winder.

Winder said while some affluent consumers are spending well, many others are shopping at places like No Frills and Dollarama.

Buy Canadian has particularly thrived in the grocery aisle.

“Food has been one of the bigger ones, I think, where you saw a pretty immediate movement toward Canadian brands,” Winder said.

“I know Loblaws saw an initial uplift when this started in their business, Canadian Tire, I think, may have seen a small halo (effect) as well,” Winder added.

“I think overall, at the end of the day, Canadians want to buy Canadian every time the administration in the south, you know, talks about Canada -- that probably helps the movement in terms of trying to support what we’re doing,” he added.

“He’s (Trump) been a bit more focused on Greenland recently versus Canada. But it comes and goes, you know. So it’s going to be there in the background until, if and when we get some type of trade deal long-term with the United States.”

Meanwhile, as Trump ramps up the rhetoric about taking over Greenland, Pierre Kiel, a German-Danish student, told CTV News that the Germans and Danes have Canada’s back.

“We kind of feel like the Canadians and the Danes and also the Germans kind of have the same lingering sentiment against Trump, because he’s quite aggressive in terms of his tariffs and all of that,” Kiel said. “So internationally speaking, we all see how Canada gets impacted, but also our economy, and therefore we choose to ignore the American products, and thereby, yeah, underfunding them.”

Kiel studies English and said he had the opportunity to spend a year studying at an American university.

“I chose not to, specifically because of Trump,” he said.

Kiel’s dad is Danish so the recent push by the U.S. to take over Greenland has hit hard too, he said.

“(Trump) doesn’t really seem to acknowledge the Danish point of view, so it’s hurting a lot,” he said, “because as someone who sees themselves as a friend (of the U.S.), the nation of Denmark not really being recognized is never really a good standpoint.”

Booze

Alcohol sales also shifted to the Great White North. A recent Nanos survey found almost three-quarters of Canadians supported keeping U.S. liquor out of government-owned stores.

“Keeping U.S. booze off of shelves in Canada is just a signal to the United States of one of the few things Canadians do and leverage points,” Nanos said.

Alberta’s liquor stores are not government-owned and U.S. liquor returned to shelves in June with other province following suit in October.

And as far as travelling to the U.S., December statistics from Statistics Canada show Canadian-resident return trips from the U.S. by air fell 18.7 per cent in December while return trips by automobile dropped 30.7 per cent compared to the same time in 2024, marking 12 consecutive months of year-over-year declines.

With files from CTV’s Tyler Barrow and Anam Khan