Most Canadians want their government to gear up for a fight and hit back against U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs, new polling from Angus Reid shows on Monday.
The polling comes as Canadians are bracing for steep and sweeping 50 per cent tariffs, which are set to hit Canada next month and will cover a wide range of Canadian goods.
The Angus Reid Institute conducted an online survey from July 23 to 25 among a randomized sample of 1,790 Canadian adults.
More than six in 10 (62 per cent) of Canadians polled by Angus Reid supported retaliatory tariffs of some kind, with 34 per cent saying they want the government to match U.S. tariffs dollar for dollar and 28 per cent supporting limited counter-tariffs, the polling shows.
Around one in five (19 per cent) say they don’t want counter-tariffs on the U.S., preferring that Ottawa negotiate a trade deal with the U.S. instead.
A much smaller percentage (seven per cent) of people said the government should make the concessions that the U.S. demands to avoid counter-tariffs, while 12 per cent said they were not sure what the best course of action was.
Confidence in Prime Minister Mark Carney’s ability to negotiate a resolution with the Americans has waned since the spring, according to polling. Less than half (43 per cent) of Canadians say they believe that Carney can deliver a good deal for Canada, down from 51 per cent in April.
Half of respondents (50 per cent) are not confident in the government’s ability to negotiate a good deal. Of these, 26 percent said it’s because the Carney government is unqualified to handle Trump, and 24 percent said it’s because the Trump administration is impossible to predict.
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Opinions also vary on how Canada should approach the supply management system in Canada’s dairy industry, which the U.S. has identified as one of its key trade irritants.
Around four in 10 (42 per cent) say the government should stand firm on keeping supply management in place during trade negotiations, while a similar number (44 per cent) say it should be used as a bargaining chip.
However, 61 per cent also oppose Canada conceding more market access to American dairy products. Around half (48 per cent) say American alcohol should not be brought back to Canadian shelves, another key trade irritant for Trump as provinces removed U.S. booze from their shelves.
Canadian attitudes towards the U.S. have been tense amid the trade war, which began last year after Trump’s re-election and has continued since.
An Ipsos poll conducted exclusively for Global News one year ago found that approximately three-quarters of Canadians surveyed said they intended to avoid travel to the U.S., while the number of people avoiding U.S.-made goods stood at 72 per cent.
Asked if they thought less of the U.S. as a country because of Trump’s various attacks on Canada’s economy and sovereignty, 77 per cent of those polled last year said they agreed, with nearly half saying they felt strongly.
Pressure is mounting on the federal government to secure a deal with Washington.
The Conservative critic for Canada-U.S. relations is calling on Ottawa to provide its negotiation plan with the U.S. at an emergency meeting.
Shuv Majumdar said in a letter to Carney that the Conservatives want an emergency meeting of the House of Commons Standing Committee on International Trade next week and called for Ottawa to table its written plans.
Majumdar said Carney must explain how the government will address Trump’s latest tariff threat.
Trump last week said that the U.S. government will hit an array of Canadian products with 50 per cent tariffs in 30 days.
American officials said the new levies are a response to provincial bans on U.S. alcohol, Canada’s supply-managed dairy system and quotas on American cars.
That comes as the House of Commons government operations committee is expected to meet on Wednesday to discuss a call from opposition members to investigate Carney’s handling of the Gordie Howe bridge deal — specifically, the agreement in principle to split revenues with the U.S.
— with files from The Canadian Press and Global’s Ari Rabinovitch
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