Even before Donald Trump set off his trade war in earnest last week, 73% of Canadians already supported a policy through which Ottawa would match tariffs imposed by the U.S. on a dollar-for-dollar basis, according to numbers from Leger.
The number who supported for tit-for-tat tariffs spiked to 91% among those who consider themselves liberal voters, according to Leger’s Trump Tariff Tracker, an online survey conducted late last month of approximately 1,500 Canadians and 1,000 Americans older than the age of 18.
The U.S. levied 25% tariffs on all Canadian goods and 10% tariffs on energy products last Tuesday before Donald Trump reversed course on Thursday to delay tariffs on many items until April 2.
The survey showed that 84% of respondents felt that prices had already risen in recent weeks and that two-thirds of Canadians had reduced their purchases of American products, both in stores (66%) and online (63%).
By contrast, only 33% of Americans were in favour of the Trump administration imposing tariffs on products imported from Canada, and 49% thought the policy negatively impacted the U.S. economy.
More were in favour of levelling tariffs on other countries, notably China, where 50% of Americans were in favour of imposing levies, a six-point increase from the previous week.
Canadians weighed in at 77% holding an unfavourable view of Donald Trump compared with 14% holding a favourable view of the U.S. President. Quebeckers, Atlantic Canadians and Albertans were more likely than the average to hold an unfavourable view of Trump.
More than nine in 10 Liberal, NDP and Bloc voters held an unfavourable view of Trump while just 57% of Conservative supporters held unfavourable views of the U.S. president.
However, opinions are mixed about the U.S. as a whole: 27% see it as an enemy, 31% as an ally, and another 25% as a neutral nation. The remaining 16% refused to respond or that they didn’t know.
On the political spectrum, conservative voters are more likely to think that the Unites States is an ally (48%). Meanwhile, a majority of Americans (56%) consider Canada an ally.
