Canadians think Trump's tariffs are only going to get worse, poll finds

OTTAWA — Canadians fear that tariff threats from the United States are only going to get worse, a new poll found.

Forty-six per cent of Canadians believe that U.S. President Donald Trump will raise tariffs on Canada, which is an increase of 19 percentage points since May 2025. Only 20 per cent of Canadians think that tariffs will be rescinded, a decrease of 20 percentage points from last year.

More than three-quarters of Canadians (76 per cent) believe that American tariffs are still a threat to the economy while a shy majority of Canadians (55 per cent) are boycotting American goods if a non-American option is available, the poll revealed.

The poll by Research Co. was conducted between Feb. 11 and Feb. 13 , surveying 1,001 Canadian adults.

Mario Canseco, president of Research Co., said that some Canadians originally believed Trump was bluffing about tariffs and it was just a fleeting exercise.

“There was a moment when they felt Trump is going to come to his senses and he’s not going to do anything stupid to jeopardize the relationship that he has with Canada,” said Canseco, in an interview with National Post. “And now more people are essentially saying…we got two years and a few months to go before we deal with a different president in the White House.”

Canadians are boycotting by cancelling trips to the U.S. (34 per cent), staying clear of American restaurant franchises in Canada (30 per cent) and avoiding American entertainment options (25 per cent).

The poll also found that more than half of Canadians (53 per cent) view America as a military threat.

“Majorities of Canadians aged 18-to-34 (56 per cent) and aged 35-to-54 (54 per cent) think the United States currently represents a military threat,” wrote Canseco, in a press release accompanying the poll. “The proportion is lower among Canadians aged 55 and over (47 per cent).”

Canseco said the military threat is more due to Canadian distrust of Trump rather than any real scenario of an American invasion.

“Because of the erratic nature of his statements, I think that is making Canadians a little bit more uneasy about the chances of something like this happening,” said Canseco.

“When we asked the question about Alberta independence late last year, and we had 45 per cent of people telling us, ‘I think Trump’s going to get involved in this,’ regardless of the result of the referendum, that might do something detrimental to Canada.”

Sixty per cent of Liberal voters in the 2025 federal election believe America is a military threat, in contrast to 46 per cent of Conservative voters.

Between the four most populated provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec, Alberta has the lowest approval of their premier’s handling of tariff threats. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is at 36 per cent approval, down by 11 percentage points since May.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has the highest decrease in approval, down by 13 percentage points since May, and sitting at 45 per cent approval.

B.C. Premier David Eby is the only premier of the four that has both an increase in approval since May, up three percentage points, as well as majority approval from voters at 59 per cent.

“If it’s a problem related to forestry, well, we’ve always had a difficult situation selling lumber to the United States, and now you add the tariffs…So in a way, the Trump administration has become a bit of a whipping boy for the B.C. government,“ said Canseco.

Most Canadians approve of how the Carney government handled Trump’s tariffs (57 per cent) while only 30 per cent of people feel the same way about the Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s handling of the issue. A majority of Canadians disagree (54 per cent) with the notion that the country would be better off right now under a Conservative federal government.

One-in-five of Canadians are in favour of Canada joining the United States, with Canadians aged 18 to 34 much more likely to consider it, at nearly 30 per cent, while only nine per cent of Canadians aged 55 and older would consider it.

Canseco said there has been a surge of younger adults leaning Conservative compared to 10 years ago, when the Conservative base was strongly in the 55 and over demographic.

“When it comes to the openness of joining the United States, the question about whether we should actually try to enable Canada to become an American state, it’s something that is significantly more attractive to the 18 to 34 year olds,” said Canseco.

“I think part of the reason for this is it’s a group that doesn’t remember the Quebec referendums in 1980 and 1995 and the media landscape is different in contrast to the one that was controlled by the CRTC.”

National Post

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