Canadians see U.S. boycotts as temporary, but may outlast Trump White House: survey

People participate in a rally in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's threats to Canadian sovereignty, on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on Sunday, March 9, 2025. (Justin Tang/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

New data from Nanos Research shows that most surveyed Canadians view their boycotts on U.S. goods and travel as temporary, but nearly half say they’ll outlast the Trump White House.

Conducted on behalf of CTV News earlier this month, 1,047 Canadian adults were surveyed on a variety of topics relevant to U.S. President Donald Trump’s ongoing trade war, from automotive tariffs and defence spending, to nationwide boycotts that have battered U.S. tourism, alcohol and other industries.

Asked when they expect the “Elbows Up” boycotts to end, roughly three in four respondents said they would end eventually, with 47 per cent predicting an endpoint after Trump’s time in office ends, and 28 per cent saying they would end before he departs the Oval Office.

Only 16 per cent of those surveyed viewed the boycotts as permanent, and nine per cent indicated they weren’t sure.

By demographic group, male respondents were more likely to predict an end to the boycotts during Trump’s second term (one in three), and Canadians aged 55 or older were twice as likely as those from 18 to 34 to call the boycotts permanent (22 per cent, versus nine).

Regionally, respondents in Quebec and Atlantic Canada skewed more toward permanent boycotts, while those in the Prairies were the most likely to predict a return to normal consumer practices within the next four years.

Boycotts mounted earlier this year amid the arrival of Trump’s sweeping 25 per cent tariffs on most Canadian imports. In the time since, amid erratic rounds of delay, retreat and escalation of tariffs from both countries, Canadians have increasingly turned their attention away from U.S. travel destinations and consumer products.

Earlier this year, amid the uncertainty brought by the trade war, some automakers announced temporary plant shutdowns and layoffs – a move that hasn’t gone unnoticed by Canadian consumers.

Among respondents to the Nanos survey, more than half said they were at least somewhat less likely to purchase a car from a manufacturer that shut down Canadian production.

Meanwhile, Canadian federal and regional leaders have prioritized breaking down interprovincial trade barriers to promote domestic business development, though third-party research shows mixed signals on how much that will boost Canada’s economy.

As of Monday, the Prime Minister’s Office has said it continues to work toward a July 21 deadline to strike a new, bilateral trade agreement with the United States.

This week, the Trump administration announced the president would delay deadlines for trade deals with more than a dozen other countries, not including Canada, to Aug. 1, and threatened yet new potential tariffs of 50 per cent on copper and up to 200 per cent on pharmaceuticals.

Copper tariffs are expected to activate as soon as August, but Trump has mentioned giving drug makers as much as a year to “get their act together” before imposing levies on pharmaceuticals.

Canadians favour more defence spending

Also asked in the July survey were questions about Canada’s national defence spending and strategy.

In recent weeks, Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced that Canada will meet its NATO obligation to spend two per cent of GDP on defence by the end of this fiscal year, and will further increase that proportion to five per cent by 2035.

A sizable 84 per cent of respondents to the Nanos survey supported increasing Canada’s defence spending at least to two per cent, with 32 per cent favouring the five per cent benchmark.

Increased spending has seen growing popularity in recent years, while the proportion of Canadian respondents favouring the same or less defence spending has fallen to 12 per cent from a peak of 31 in March 2024, Nanos data shows.

Spending increases were most popular in the Prairies and least in British Columbia and Atlantic Canada. Older Canadians and men were also more likely to support an increase to at least two per cent of GDP, compared to women and younger Canadians.

Nationwide, Canadians also showed substantial support for the prime minister’s recent move toward participating in ReArm Europe, an international defence procurement program.

Three in four respondents felt the deal would bring either a positive or somewhat positive impact, with only nine per cent giving a negative or somewhat negative response. Positive sentiments were more pronounced in Quebec and Atlantic Canada, as well as among men and older Canadians.

Methodology

Nanos Research conducted an RDD dual-frame survey over the phone and online between July 2 and 6, 2025, among a sample of 1,047 Canadian adults. The firm says its survey results carry a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points, 19 times out of 20, and that results were weighted by age, gender and region using the latest census information to represent the Canadian population.

With files from The Canadian Press