Donald Trump and Mark Carney. Photo / AFP, Getty Images, Herald graphic
Donald Trump’s tariff wars are officially on - and many countries are responding by turning against US-made products.
The United States President’s first two targets are Mexico and Canada, imposing 25% tariffs on their products – and 20% on Chinese imports.
These three countries accounted for more than 40% of imports into the US last year.
Canadians have led the charge in reciprocal tariffs - one of Justin Trudeau’s last acts as Prime Minister.
Canada’s new Prime Minister Mark Carney has vowed that confronting Trump’s tariffs would be a priority. He said “Canada “will never, ever, in any way, shape or form, be part of the US” - clapping back at threats to annex the country, which Trump has made repeatedly in recent months.
CBC News senior parliamentary reporter, J.P. Tasker - who’s based in Ottawa - told The Front Page there’s been a major pushback from Canadians.
“There’s a huge movement to stop buying American products. It is pretty remarkable. Every time you go to the grocery store, you see people picking up goods and looking at where it’s made. If it says ‘made in America’, it gets put back on the shelf.
“There’s a co-ordinated effort not to buy American products right now. There’s a Facebook group that had 1.3 million members alone, in just one group and it’s all about how to buy Canadian and how to avoid American [products]. So, people are voting with their wallets right now.
“The major grocers in this country are reporting that sales are down dramatically for US goods. They’re bringing in a lot more products from countries we don’t normally buy from. Peru, Israel, Morocco, South America, and places where we traditionally don’t have much of a trading relationship at all,” he said.
Among the angst toward US-made products has been a glaring need to diversify the country’s trade portfolio. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said her province is looking for customers beyond the US in Asia and Europe
“Canada is very keen to cosy up to the United Kingdom and frankly, Australia and New Zealand. There is a push to rebuild Commonwealth ties - to bring the Commonwealth cousins back together again.
“The Government just had a huge trade mission to Australia. Our Foreign Minister was just in the UK saying we need the UK more than ever,” Tasker said.
The anti-American sentiment has spread to Europe as well
On his social media site, Truth Social, Trump said if the European Union doesn’t remove a proposed 50% tariff on US bourbon, the US will place a 200% tariff on all wines, Champagne, and alcoholic products from the EU.
Buy New Zealand Made executive director Dane Ambler told The Front Page we’ve seen momentum for Kiwis to buy local since Covid.
“It probably has tapered off a little bit. But to be honest, the world’s changed a lot and a lot of businesses that we’ve spoken to have made quite significant changes. They have already pulled out of those unreliable supply chains and started to bring things closer to home.
" With the ongoing geopolitical tensions in the world at the moment and the lack of control that businesses have over the costs and risks associated with manufacturing overseas, we’re just going to see more and more companies bringing manufacturing closer to home," he said.
Listen to the full episode to hear more about how consumers are responding to Trump’s tariffs.
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.
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