Majorities in Canada view US as top threat, top ally: Survey

Canadians point to America as both their country’s top threat and its greatest ally, according to Pew Research Center data released Tuesday.

The survey, conducted during the first four months of the year, asked residents of 25 countries to name the nation they think poses the greatest threat to their own, as well as the nation they think is their most important ally.

Only in Canada did majorities place America at the top of both lists: 55 percent said most important ally and 59 percent said the greatest threat.

America was ranked at the top of Mexico’s two lists as well; but only a plurality, 37 percent, called the U.S. Mexico’s top ally, while an overwhelming majority, 68 percent, said America is the No. 1 threat that Mexico faces.

In three other countries, pluralities called the U.S. their top threat as well as their greatest ally: Argentina, Brazil and Kenya, where the U.S. is tied first on both lists.

Twelve of the 24 non-U.S. countries called the U.S. their greatest ally. In addition to the four mentioned earlier, these countries were Israel, South Korea, Japan, the United Kingdom, Poland, Italy, Australia and India.

Three countries had the U.S. tied in the top spot for greatest ally: Nigeria and Hungary in addition to Kenya.

America topped the “greatest threat” list for six countries, including South Africa and Indonesia. Spain and Kenya had America tied in first place as the greatest threat.

The survey was conducted before and immediately after President Trump announced and paused sweeping tariffs on individual countries.

While Canada has long been America’s closest ally, Trump’s public musings about making Canada the 51st state of America have not been well received by the neighbors to the north. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s resistance to Trump’s message is often credited as a catalyst to his election victory, which had once been seen as a long shot.

The surveys included 28,333 adults from 25 countries and were conducted from Jan. 8 to April 26. The margins of error for the country-specific surveys range from 2.5 points to 4.7 points.