Percentage of Canadians who see the U.S. as a top threat triples: poll

A participant holds an "Elbows Up Canada" sign during a rally on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Sunday, March 9, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

WASHINGTON — As U.S. President Donald Trump pursues his global trade war and talk of annexation, a new poll suggests the percentage of Canadians who view the United States as a top threat has tripled since 2019.

While this year’s survey by the Pew Research Center suggests that 55 per cent of Canadians still say the U.S. remains this country’s most important ally, it also says that 59 per cent now see the U.S. as a threat -- up from 20 per cent in the 2019 poll.

• Read the survey results

“Canada sort of stands out as one place where views of the U.S. have changed significantly and substantially,” said Janell Fetterolf, a senior researcher at the centre.

Pew polled people in 25 countries and the United States was cited as the most important ally in 12. It was the most commonly named threat in eight countries -- including America’s closest neighbours, Canada and Mexico.

Canada was an early target of Trump’s tariffs and taunts. He repeatedly called former prime minister Justin Trudeau “governor” and said he wanted to make Canada a U.S. state.

Trump hit Canada and Mexico with duties he linked to fentanyl trafficking in March, only to walk back the tariffs for goods that comply with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade a few days later.

Both countries are also being targeted by Trump’s tariffs on steel, aluminum and automobiles.

The Pew Research Center said many people polled in Europe named Russia as a top threat, while China was more commonly named among those in the Asia-Pacific region.

Poll respondents were more likely to name the United States as an economic threat, while Russia was more likely to be considered a threat to national security and China was commonly cited as a mix of both.

But at least half of the people polled in Mexico, France and Canada who said the United States was a threat also said the U.S. posed “a great deal of a threat” to national security.

In Canada, roughly three-quarters of adults said the U.S. poses an economic threat and 53 per cent said it poses a national security threat.

Pew, a Washington-based non-partisan think tank, surveyed 28,333 adults across 24 countries -- not including the United States -- from Jan. 8 to April 26 by phone, online and in person. The centre also surveyed 3,605 Americans from March 24 to March 30 by phone, online and in person.

Israelis were particularly likely to name the U.S. as their country’s most important ally. Israelis also stood out for their particularly positive ratings of the U.S. and its president. Most Israelis polled named Iran as the top threat.

Japanese and South Koreans polled also overwhelmingly stated that the U.S. was their most important ally.

Despite Canadians’ increasingly negative views of the U.S., Americans remain positive about Canada. Fetterolf said Canada is one of the allies most commonly named by Americans, just behind the United Kingdom.

She said a poll earlier this year suggested 74 per cent of Americans have a favourable opinion of Canada.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 8, 2025.

Kelly Geraldine Malone, The Canadian Press