I’ve left the comments open in case any Canadians want to weigh in.

I think this is an entirely accurate description of Canadians' experience with Trump today. I'm actively weeding out American items in my grocery cart, canceling US travel plans, and even cutting US subscription services like Netflix and Prime. (My Kottke membership is the only thing that has survived this digital purge.)

I think you're actively seeing Canadians realign interests and allegiances with an eye toward Europe. (Our new PM, Mark Carney, is currently on his first international visit and broke the informal tradition of visiting Washington and instead traveling to France and Britain. Certainly symbolic, but there's also thinking he didn't want to be 'Zelenskyy-ed' in the Oval Office in front of international media.)

More than no longer viewing the US as the leader of the free world, I think there are a lot of concerns that the US can't even be viewed as a rational actor. There's a broad international sense that you can't be trusted any longer.

Canadian here. Yup. Was honestly furious with America on November 9 already before I even understood the extent of the tariff plans let alone the sovereignty threats.

I have family in the US that I am not visiting for the next four years at a minimum.

Everyone here is furious now though. The sovereignty shit just feels like a stab in the back after supporting the US in past wars and being so close generally. There are Canadian flags going up all over the place with lots of “made in Canada” signs on products in the stores. What a stupid own goal by America in every way.

Canadian here. Yup, mad and frustrated as hell. Friends and family are all voting with their wallets as much as we possibly can right now.

The silver lining to this is seeing how much pride the average person has for this country. Canadians are not as "RAH-RAH" as Americans are in regards to their nationality. It always felt like you were more likely to see the flags of nations that people immigrated from, even if the immigration happened 1-2 generations ago. When the World Cup is happening you see tons of cars with other countries flags strapped down to the hood.

Now I'm seeing Canadian flags outside businesses and grocery stores putting little maple leafs on Canadian products. This ground swell of national pride is nice to cling to admist all the uncertainty coming from the US administration.

Canadian here as well, and I 100% agree with the article and other commenters. I'm seeing the exact same thing on the West Coast (Alberta is likely different, though). All the grocery stores are putting up signs showing which products are Canadian, and liquor from Republican states has been pulled from the shelves in the provincial liquor stores. A local furnishings store a block away has a huge window sign saying they are proudly Canadian, and they have a sale on Canadian-made beds and sofas. It's to the point where the stores that aren't Canadian are putting up signs saying they are "Canadian-operated".

A church down the street from me currently has a sign stating that they are "Giving up fascism for Lent". My neighbours have little flags out in their planters, and I have never seen that before outside Canada Day, especially after the truckers tried to dominate that symbol.

I am actively trying to buy Canadian, but that's hard in the produce aisle. Even the produce that says it's a product of Mexico or Peru was grown for a U.S. company, and produce packaged by Canadian brands was grown in the U.S. This weekend I found one company producing salad greens that had a "We're Canadian, eh?" logo on its packaging (grown in Calgary), and that brand was nearly sold out.

I have heard from people who are limiting travel across the border; Ontario had spring break last week and colleagues there said that border crossings by land and air were down. It's a problem, though, for our local U.S. exclave -- the CBC ran an article last week where businesses there said this could be the end for them. Much of their business is parcel receiving and shipping, or Canadians buying cheaper gas and groceries, and people aren't coming now. No one wishes Point Roberts ill, but we're mad.

Love the pic of Justin making a grumpy face - you know he's serious!
Personally, as an anti-NAFTA Canadian, I'm finding a positive in the growing awareness of the average Canadian of the detriments of being so tied to the US. "Free" trade has never worked to Canadians' advantage. It gutted our strong, unionized manufacturing industry, severely weakened our economic and political independence and trapped us in a relationship with an abusive bully. Trump's behaviour is entirely consistent with how the US has treated Canada since the agreement was signed: he just says the quiet part loud.

Canadians - how are people feeling about Americans visiting Canada? Many of us Americans have friends and family there and while I fully agree with your decisions not to enter the US, what's the feeling about travel the other way? We go every year to visit family and have a trip planned for July but are just not sure how welcome we'll be (understandably).

Canadians and Americans have always had our rivalries and disagreements, which we mostly work through and solve. The sheer unpredictable irrationality of this absurdity is sparking something completely different. There are words you can’t take back after a fight, and trust that can’t be rebuilt. As a Canadian who works in the Dairy industry, sure, I'll happily give up my Coke and McDonalds long before I let anyone take our supply-managed system. To see that same determination sinking in across the population is new.

But as a Canadian this fight that Prince Tinyhands is picking is fundamentally baffling. He just wrote “April 2nd is Liberation Day for America, because we will start taking back some of the vast wealth that has been taken from us due to the many weak, incompetent, and perhaps even dishonest politicians who have represented us in the past!” (https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114179857581963138)

*He’s* the politician who signed CUSMA/USMCA. Seriously? Go home, your mother made you waffles.

I agree with comments above. I’m Canadian and everyone I know is very upset and frustrated with unfair treatment. We need to diversify our trade and find new markets with partners who honour trade agreements. The current leadership in US thinks it’s disrespectful for Zelensky not to thank USA but it’s just fine for them to suggest annexing Canada and calling the prime minister “governor”.
It is the end of a long and fruitful alliance. We will move past this but Canada will NEVER trust the USA again.
To those who ask if ok to visit Canada? It will be fine. Canadians will welcome friendly travellers ( well I would leave your MAGA hats at home)

YES, I love Americans except the ones who voted for the Convicted Criminal (TCC) who continues to break laws and lie AND having said that I am prepared to respectfully dialogue with them especially the middle class ones :-) I don't think retaliatory tariffs are the answer ; instead other measures like bringing back generic drugs and breaking American DRM as Cory Doctorow advocates will be better in the long run. Go Canada! Down with the "USA/USSR Soviet Union". I hate to use the dreaded Soviet word but isn't this what TCC and Putᖱn want? A revived USSR that includes the USA with Greenland and Canada as oppressed as the Baltics were?...Roland in Vancouver, Canada

Any thoughts on Americans interested in a step past visiting? I am a teacher married to a mental health therapist living in a deep red state. We are both tired of holding the line and watching our neighbors vote against our best interests.

A blue state move is obviously an option, but we spend every summer traveling North of the border and letting Jon Montgomery suggest travel plans. How feasible is that dream?

Welp, reading this article just convinced me to entirely avoid the US border for the foreseeable future: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/19/canadian-detained-us-immigration-jasmine-mooney

Rémi Bourget has a "message from a French Canadian to the Trump administration and our friends and allies south of the border: HANDS OFF our democracy!" Also on Facebook. (thx, jennifer)

I think Trump is approaching tariff policy with an eye towards taking the US economy back to a time when there was no income tax and the only income the government got was from tariffs. Someone has sold him on this fantasy. As for annexing Canada as the 51st State, I believe that he's been looking at Mercator projections of the world and thinks that if Greenland and Canada are US territory, we will have the same landmass as Russia. It's the kind of stupidity that cannot be cured.