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submitted 6 days ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

Avoiding US goods and services – from tech to whisky to air travel – has forced many to find a new way of living

This week the US imposed 50% tariffs on US$20bn (£15bn) of Canadian goods, and Mark Carney, the country’s prime minister, has vowed to match them “dollar for dollar” after the collapse of trade talks between the two countries last weekend. Donald Trump retaliated on Thursday by ordering the federal government to rename Lake Ontario to Lake America.

Such actions have added fuel to a widespread boycott of US products and services by Canadians that began early last year in response to the president’s trade war and threats to annex his northern neighbour.

More than 3,500 people from across Canada shared with the Guardian via an online callout how they have made changes to their lives in response to the US administration’s political and economic stance. Many expressed deep anger and sadness, but remained resolute that this was now a new way of living.

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[-] tunetardis@piefed.ca 13 points 6 days ago

It's been an education.

On the positive side, I never realized how many products are actually manufactured in Canada. There's a Canadian option for nearly everything I see at the supermarket. Toothpaste is an odd exception. Some items read "Made in Canada using domestic and imported ingredients". They don't specify beyond that where they were imported from, which is a bit annoying.

One thing that really pisses me off is canned soup. Apparently, Campbells went around at some point and bought up nearly all the independent canneries, replacing them with a few giant ones in the US. Even Habitant, which I had always thought of as a Canadian brand, is under the Campbells umbrella at this point. But Canada (specifically Quebec) is the primary aluminum producer for North America by a good margin, which means a 50% tariff ding for every can produced. This affects American and Canadian consumers alike. Canned soup is supposed to be affordable, dammit!

Well, it turns out there is one cannery left in my area: Sprague. They're a bit of a boutique brand, so not necessarily cheaper, but at least they're not tariff-inflated and they make a good product. Their soups generally don't contain outrageous amounts of sodium like most of Campbells offerings, and all their cans have pull tops which is a nice touch. I'm giving them a lot of business now and hope they can expand to fill the void of Canadian producers.

[-] ikidd@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 6 days ago

Hate to tell you this, but canned soup is in steel cans with a plastic liner.

[-] tunetardis@piefed.ca 2 points 5 days ago

Oh ok. Well, steel is also 50% tariffed with a lot of it produced in Canada, so the end result is basically the same.

[-] elucubra@sopuli.xyz 1 points 6 days ago

Yeah, fucking Shtrumpf.

[-] M0oP0o@mander.xyz 3 points 5 days ago

Campbells went around at some point and bought up nearly all the independent canneries, replacing them with a few giant ones in the US.

Ever wondered why campbells condensed soup is so fucking pricey now? It is just like you explain except even dumber, they used to have facilities here in Canada (after buying them all up). But then moved (shut them all down and fired everyone) them just before trump got back into office to "save money" and now are considering leaving the Canadian market since almost all their inputs are now super tariffed then tariffed again back into Canada and believe it or not is not making anything off those cans just to keep some competition.

And this is the same that happened with Delissio pizza and McCain's frozen drinks (both gone from Canada). Also Kraft Heinz can go fuck itself, as it did that to the Canadian market first.

[-] rbos@lemmy.ca 5 points 6 days ago

Nelson's Naturals does toothpaste. Refillable, even. And they sell toothpaste tablets.

[-] elucubra@sopuli.xyz 3 points 6 days ago

Refillable from what? It's already in a packaging that is essentially a bag with a cap.

[-] rbos@lemmy.ca 1 points 5 days ago

Glass jars. It's a bit of an adjustment.

this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2026
858 points (99.2% liked)

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