During a week in which the federal election campaign got underway in earnest, “Buy Canadian” interests have only grown in scope and scale.

Donald Trump’s trade and foreign policy manoeuvres are toppling decades-old economic and security alliances around the world with Canada among the main punching bags through the first two months of U.S. President Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

On Monday, the Atlantic reported that Trump administration officials had leaked Signal messaging conversations about airstrikes planned to hit Yemen that heavily criticized Europe for not living up to the U.S.’s expectations on security and military spending.

In response to the leak, Prime Minister Mark Carney said, according to the CBC, that his “responsibility is to plan for the worst … Part of that response is to be more and more Canadian in our defence capabilities, more and more Canadian in our decisions, to take greater ownership.”

Carney’s comments came days after reports emerged that both Canada and Europe were beginning to question the reliability of plans to purchase high-end military weaponry from the U.S, such as the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft.

On Wednesday, Trump announced that 25% tariffs on foreign automobiles will take effect soon as April 2 and warned of “far larger” tariffs on Canada and Europe if the countries partner “in order to do economic harm to the USA.”

Recent events point toward both Canada and Europe moving away from buying American on a larger government scale as the decades-old post-war economic establishment continues to disintegrate.

Our continuing “Maple Monitor” series looks at some of the moments that have exemplified the “Buy Canadian” mood in recent days. Check back every Friday for more.

Canada advertises tariffs as a tax in U.S.

Canada has taken to the front foot in its messaging around cross-border tariffs after Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly told CNN last Friday that the federal government has paid for roadside digital-billboard campaign in the U.S. to display anti-tariff messaging.

The ads, emblazoned with the slogan “Tariffs are a tax on hardworking Americans,” send a message that “there’s no winners in a trade war. There will be job losses on both sides of the border, particularly in the U.S.,” Joly said.

John Babcock, a spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada, told strategy in an e-mail response on Thursday that the billboards are currently on display in 12 states plus the District of Columbia as part of a long-term strategic investment in Canada’s economic interests in the U.S.

“Tariffs are a tax on hard-working Americans in their daily lives,” Babcock said. “They lead to increased costs on everyday essentials, including fuel and groceries. … The purpose is to increase the understanding of the American public and to counter misinformation.”

OAG reports more than 70% dip in Canada-U.S. air-travel bookings

Official Airline Guide (OAG), a global aviation data and analytics provider, reported a more than 70 per cent decline in passenger bookings from Canada to the U.S. this week.

OAG said that, while airline capacity between the countries has largely remained unchanged, forward booking data comparing total bookings held at the same time in 2024 with those recorded this week for the summer season show a decline of more than 70 per cent in every month through to the end of September.

The travel-data supplier predicts a nervous coming few months for airlines as the numbers trend toward sharply reduced snow-bird travel demand for next winter.

Ottawa takes Tesla rebates off the table

In another troubling week for Tesla north of the border, Ottawa announced a pause to rebate payments on the company’s electric vehicles on Tuesday and denied the automaker access to federal EV rebate programs in the future.

According to a Reuters report, Transport Minister Chrystia Freeland also announced that Tesla will be barred from Incentives for Zero-Emission Vehicles programs as long as the “illegitimate and illegal U.S. tariffs are imposed against Canada.”

The announcement comes in the same month that Tesla was cut off from a program that reduces licensing and renewal fees on EVs purchased by taxi or ride-share drivers in Toronto and after the Vancouver International Auto Show barred the company from this year’s event because of security concerns.

Food bank benefits from grocery-shopping shift

And one of the positives to come out of the continuing Canada-U.S. trade war came out of B.C., where Nanaimo’s Loaves and Fishes Community Food Bank says it has seen a surge in U.S. produce donations from grocers and wholesalers in correspondence with the “Buy Canadian” shopping movement.

According to Global News, the food bank’s executive director Peter Sinclair last week reported an increase of food that is also of a higher quality.

“We had a whole pallet of cauliflower that came through – we will get cauliflower regularly, but it was the volume in this case and just the quality of it,” Sinclair told Global.

“We gladly accepted and we put it to its best use and made sure people got fed with it.”