How Canadians are bracing for the impact of Trump’s trade war

Toronto, Canada – At a grocery store in downtown Toronto, small red maple leaves dot the aisles, appearing beside the prices of products.

They’re easy to miss, but shoppers like Mateus Gujrel are on the lookout. They’re a quick sign that something is Canadian-made, an increasingly important factor for consumers like Gujrel amid a ballooning trade war with the United States.

Gujrel, a software developer, is part of a surge of nationalism under way in Canada. Since US President Donald Trump returned to office last year, relations between the two countries have grown strained amid waves of US tariffs.

The tensions have made Gujrel “way more conscious” about buying locally sourced products, he said. He switched his almond milk brand and stopped buying LaCroix, replacing the American sparkling water with a Canadian alternative.

“Anything that we can clearly see that’s Canadian, we will take,” Gujrel told Al Jazeera outside a No Frills grocery store on Wednesday.

That kind of shopping has become increasingly common in Canada over the past year. Trump’s tariffs , along with his repeated comments about making Canada the “51st state”, have fuelled a movement to boycott US products and spend money closer to home.

“I don’t want … our money to go to the US in any way that I can avoid,” Gujrel said.

There’s little sign that feeling is fading. Margaret Chapman, the chief operating officer at the market research company Narrative Research, said her firm has been tracking Canadians’ attitudes towards buying domestic products for roughly a year and a half.