A trade dispute that once seemed confined to tariff schedules and negotiating rooms is increasingly showing up in Canadian shopping carts. A new Research Co. poll finds 58% of Canadians say they are avoiding—or plan to avoid—goods originating in the United States when a non-American alternative is available, up from 55% in June.
The political split is substantial. Among Canadians who reported voting Liberal in the 2025 federal election, 71% selected that response, compared with 46% of past Conservative voters. NDP voters were even more likely to do so, at 76%. The findings suggest that attitudes toward the Canada-U.S. dispute are becoming intertwined with everyday consumer choices, although the numbers require some important context about question wording, demographics, prices and Canada’s deeply integrated economic relationship with the United States.
The 58% Figure Comes With an Important Qualification
The headline number is striking, but the exact question matters. Research Co. asked Canadians whether, as a result of U.S. tariffs, they were “planning to do, or have already done” several things. Fifty-eight per cent selected avoiding U.S.-origin goods when a non-American alternative was available. That means the figure combines people who have already changed their purchasing habits with people who intend to do so. It should not be interpreted as transaction data showing that 58% have consistently stopped purchasing American products.
Even with that qualification, the result indicates considerable persistence. Research Co. found 55% giving the same response in June 2026, so the latest reading is three percentage points higher. The pollster surveyed 1,003 Canadian adults online from September 21 to 23 and weighted the results by age, gender and region. It reports a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points for the national sample, 19 times out of 20. A three-point movement between individual polls therefore deserves more caution than a dramatic “surge” interpretation.
The Liberal-Conservative Gap Is Large—but It Measures Past Voters
The most politically notable finding is the difference among people grouped by their vote in the 2025 federal election. Seventy-one per cent of past Liberal voters said they were planning to avoid or had avoided American goods when another option was available. The corresponding figure was 46% among Conservative voters, creating a 25-point difference. Past NDP voters registered the highest figure of the three groups at 76%.
Those categories should not be confused with current voting intentions. Someone who voted Liberal, Conservative or NDP in 2025 may no longer support that party, and the poll does not establish why the groups differ. It demonstrates an association between past vote and reported purchasing behaviour, not that party affiliation itself caused a shopping decision. There is also greater statistical uncertainty around party subgroups than around the entire 1,003-person sample because each subgroup contains fewer respondents. The contrast is still noteworthy, but the published national margin of error should not simply be applied to every partisan number as though the subgroup samples were equally large.
Age Produces Another Significant Divide
Political preference is not the only dividing line. Age shows a particularly clear pattern in Research Co.’s results. Among Canadians aged 55 and older, 70% reported avoiding or planning to avoid U.S. goods when an alternative was available. The proportion fell to 54% among those aged 35 to 54 and 50% among adults aged 18 to 34. That creates a 20-point difference between the oldest and youngest groups measured.
Regional variation was present but generally narrower. The figure stood at 65% in Saskatchewan and Manitoba combined, 60% in Alberta, 59% in Quebec, 58% in Ontario, 56% in British Columbia and 53% in Atlantic Canada. Men and women were considerably closer, at 58% and 60% respectively. Separate September research from Abacus Data also found stronger absolute avoidance among older Canadians: 48% of those 60 and older said they would do everything possible to avoid U.S. products, compared with 32% of respondents under 30. Different wording prevents a direct numerical comparison, but both sets of findings point to age as an important part of the consumer response.
The Response Has Spread Beyond Products on Store Shelves
Research Co. found that the consumer reaction extends into restaurants, entertainment and travel. One-third of Canadians, 33%, said they were avoiding American restaurant franchises in Canada, six percentage points higher than the company’s June reading. Twenty-eight per cent reported avoiding American entertainment options, up three points. Meanwhile, 29% said they had cancelled, or were planning to cancel, a U.S. trip, three points lower than in June.
Actual travel statistics add useful perspective. Preliminary Statistics Canada figures show Canadian-resident return trips from the United States rose 8.8% year over year in August 2026, marking a fifth consecutive month of year-over-year growth. Yet traffic remained dramatically below the levels seen before the dispute intensified: automobile return trips were 27.4% below August 2024 levels, while air trips were 22.7% lower. Both observations can be true at once. Travel can rebound from unusually depressed 2025 numbers while remaining well below earlier levels, and a sizable minority can still report cancelling a planned U.S. trip. Polling sentiment and border-crossing totals measure related but distinctly different behaviour.
Other Polls Find the Same Broad Mood—but Different Percentages
Research Co.’s 58% should not be treated as the only estimate of Canadian avoidance. Abacus Data reported on October 1 that 77% of Canadians said they intended either to avoid American products entirely or purchase as few as possible. In the same research, 51% said they had actually tried not to buy American products, up from 38% in February 2025, while 61% reported having bought more Canadian products.
Those numbers are not contradictory because the questions measure different things. Research Co. asks about planned or completed avoidance when a non-U.S. alternative is available. Abacus separates broad intent from behaviours respondents say they have already undertaken. Angus Reid Institute has taken another approach, asking about specific product categories. In July, 52% said they probably or definitely would not buy a U.S.-manufactured vehicle even if a trade agreement expanded market access, while the corresponding avoidance figures were 60% for American alcohol, 70% for dairy and 73% for eggs. Taken together, the polling points toward persistent consumer resistance to at least some U.S. purchases, while showing why one percentage cannot define the entire phenomenon.
Price and Labelling Can Limit How Far Avoidance Goes
Wanting to choose a Canadian product does not always mean shoppers can—or will—make that choice. Research released by the Business Development Bank of Canada in April found nearly six in 10 consumers were willing to pay more for local, provincial or Canadian-made goods and services. At the same time, two-thirds said price drove most of their purchases. Only about four in 10 respondents said Canadian-made products were easy to identify, creating a practical obstacle between stated preference and the checkout counter.
Product origin can also be more complicated than a maple leaf on a package suggests. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency explains that “Product of Canada” and “Made in Canada” have different meanings. “Made in Canada” indicates that the product’s last substantial transformation occurred in Canada and can include imported ingredients, while “100% Canadian” has a considerably stricter meaning. A maple leaf by itself does not establish that an item is Canadian. Abacus Data’s September research found 89% wanted grocery retailers to identify Canadian-made products clearly, highlighting how much purchasing behaviour can depend on information being obvious at the shelf.
Retail Data Show an Effect, but Canada Is Far From Economically Decoupled
There is evidence that consumer attitudes have translated into real sales changes. NielsenIQ reported in June 2025 that U.S.-made products were experiencing year-to-date sales declines of 6.9% in food and 4.5% in personal care. Canadian-made food products were gaining share even though NIQ found their average unit price was 16% higher. Those figures predate the latest poll, so they cannot prove the exact scale of the effect in late 2026, but they provide evidence that the shift was more than rhetoric during the earlier phase of the dispute.
At the national level, however, Canada and the United States remain extraordinarily interconnected. Statistics Canada reported that imports from the United States actually increased 1.8% in July 2026, driven partly by passenger cars and light trucks. Canada’s merchandise trade surplus with the United States remained $5.9 billion that month. Household choices at a grocery store therefore represent only one part of cross-border commerce. Industrial inputs, vehicles, machinery, energy, business purchasing and integrated supply chains cannot necessarily be replaced as easily as ketchup, cereal or another consumer product sitting beside an alternative on a shelf.
The Poll Points Toward Diversification More Than a Clean Break
The broader results suggest Canadians are thinking about the trade dispute well beyond individual brands. Research Co. found 75% were following tariff-related news very or moderately closely, up seven points from June. Eighty-two per cent continued to regard the U.S. tariffs as a threat to Canada. When asked about expanding trade elsewhere, 77% said Canada should seriously consider more trade with the European Union, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Support was 76% for Japan, 75% for Mexico and 61% for China.
Some economic data are already moving in that direction, although a single month does not establish a lasting restructuring of Canadian trade. Statistics Canada reported exports to countries other than the United States climbed 7.4% in July to a record $25.6 billion. Non-U.S. destinations accounted for 33.7% of Canadian exports that month. The combination of polling and trade statistics therefore describes something more complicated than Canadians simply rejecting American commerce: consumer avoidance remains substantial, interest in other trading relationships has increased, yet the U.S. remains embedded deeply enough in Canada’s economy that diversification and continued integration are happening at the same time.
