Bye America: A practical guide for patriotic Canadians

Hello r/canada

Long-time reader, first-time poster.

With Trump arbitrarily imposing tariffs on Canadian products and services, apparently as a starting point of a bigger economic war and possible annexation of Canada, now is the time for Canadians to stand together against his aggression. This post is meant to be practical, actionable ideas for all Canadians to resist Trump’s tariffs. Let's send the message to Trump: if you don't want to do business with Canada, you have no business here at all.

This is also a starting point. It’s unlikely that anyone will be able to do all of these things, all of the time, but the more people who do them, and the more of them we do, the bigger the impact will be. Many of the suggested Canadian alternatives are not present in every province. Please add your feedback and other ideas in the comments, and I will try to update the post.

Update: Thanks for all the comments! Have modified the list to correct and update it. A couple of useful websites flagged by other users.

Don’t shop at American-owned stores.

Not all of the alternatives are Canadian-owned; they are simply not American. You can also just shop local, as many Canadians own non-chain businesses providing these goods and services

Retail and consumer goods

  • Amazon → depends what you’re buying, but there are always alternatives
  • Walmart → Loblaws, Metro, Canadian Tire, Co-op (in the west)
  • Costco → Federated Co-op, Bulk Barn (you might disagree with this; Costco is standing up to Trump, and sells many Canadian products in its stores)
  • Home Depot -> Home Hardware, Rona
  • Nike → Lululemon, Roots, Nobis, Canada Goose, Aritzia
  • Levi’s → Naked & Famous

Food and beverage

  • McDonald’s, Wendy’s, KFC, Five Guys → Harvey's, A&W Canada, Burger’s Priest, Hero Certified Burgers, Mary Brown's (chicken)
  • Starbucks → Tim Hortons (though now Brazilian-owned), Second Cup, Bridgehead, Country Style, Coffee Time, Deville
  • KFC, Popeyes → your local ma and pa chicken place
  • Subway → Mr. Sub
  • Krispy Kreme → Beavertails
  • Chipotle → Freshii
  • Taco Bell → Mucho Burrito, Bar Burrito
  • Domino’s, Little Caesar’s → Pizza Pizza, Pizza Nova
  • Dairy Queen → Chapman’s Ice Cream, Laura Secord, Kawartha Dairy
  • Denny’s, IHOP → Sunset Grill, Humpty’s or Cora’s
  • Applebee’s, Chili’s → Montana’s, Kelsey’s
  • Olive Garden → East Side Mario’s
  • Buffalo Wild Wings → St. Louis Bar & Grill
  • Outback Steakhouse, Texas Roadhouse, Ruth’s Chris → The Keg, Chop, Hy’s
  • P.F. Chang’s → Manchu Wok or Congee Queen

Don’t buy American goods.

This will be difficult, because so many of our day-to-day consumer products are owned by American companies. That said, the big Canadian grocery and drug store chains have their own-brand “generic” versions of most of these American products, which are probably cheaper than the brand-name versions. When in doubt, check the label.

  • Procter & Gamble (Tide, Gillette, Pampers, etc.) → Attitude, Green Beaver
  • Johnson & Johnson (Tylenol, Band-Aid, Aveeno, etc.) → Life Brand (Shoppers Drug Mart), Jamieson Vitamins, Rexall
  • Colgate-Palmolive (Colgate toothpaste, Irish Spring, Softsoap, etc.) → Green Beaver
  • Unilever (Dove, Hellmann’s, etc.) → Canadian soap makers, President’s Choice Mayo
  • Coca-Cola (includes Dasani, Powerade, etc.) → PC Cola, Clearly Canadian
  • PepsiCo (includes Lay’s, Gatorade, Quaker, Tropicana, etc.) → Kiju, Nature’s Path
  • Kraft Heinz (Kraft Dinner, Philadelphia Cream Cheese, etc.) → Lactalis (Black Diamond, Cracker Barrel), PC Mac & Cheese
  • Campbell’s Soup → Habitant (by Loblaws), Baxters
  • Hershey’s (Reese’s, Twizzlers, etc.) → Nestlé (Switzerland), Canadian chocolate makers (Purdy’s, Laura Secord)
  • Mars (M&M’s, Snickers, etc.) → Cadbury, Canadian brands like Ganong
  • Mondelez (Oreo, Ritz, Triscuit, etc.) → Dare, local bakeries
  • General Mills (Cheerios, Nature Valley, etc.) → Nature’s Path (Canadian), Love Grown

Worth noting (thanks commenter!) that Well.ca allows you filter for Canadian products

Use Canadian transportation

  • Gas: Esso, Chevron, and Shell → Petro-Canada, Husky, Irving
  • Rides: Uber and Lyft → Use local taxi services (e.g., Beck Taxi, TappCar) or transit

Don’t buy American services.

Hard to avoid some of these, but not impossible.

  • Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, Paramount+ → Crave, CBC Gem, CBC Kids, BritBox, Mubi
  • Hollywood (Warner Bros, Universal, etc.) → try some Canadian cinema like TIFF films or the Banff Mountain Films
  • Google Drive, Dropbox → Sync.com, Proton Drive (Swiss)
  • Twitter/X (stay away, since it’s owned by Elon Musk) → Bluesky, Mastodon
  • Electronic Arts (video games) → Ubisoft Montreal

Don’t buy American cars, or at least buy a car made in Canada.

It’s obviously impossible to buy a car without any American parts. But, if you’re buying new, at least support Canadian auto workers.

Non-American cars made in Canada:

  • Honda CR-V
  • Toyota RAV4
  • Lexus RX

Foreign car companies to consider — but check if their cars are assembled in the US:

  • Honda & Toyota – Strong presence in Canada (CR-V, RAV4, and Lexus RX are built in Ontario).
  • Mazda, Subaru, Nissan (includes Infiniti), Hyundai (includes Genesis), Kia – Mostly Japanese or Korean, no American ownership.
  • Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo – European and not American-owned.

American cars assembled in Canada:

  • Chrysler 300
  • Dodge Charger, Dodge Challenger
  • Ford Edge, Lincoln Nautilus
  • Ram 1500
  • Ford Superduty
  • Chevrolet Silverado
  • GMC Sierra

American car brands to avoid (no manufacturing presence in Canada), other than the models assembled in Canada that are listed above:

  • Tesla - Obviously stay away from these, given Elon Musk’s role enabling Trump. Consider Polestar, Hyundai, Nissan, Volkswagen or Kia instead if looking to go electric
  • Ford
  • Chevrolet
  • GMC
  • Buick
  • Cadillac
  • Dodge
  • Jeep
  • Ram

Don’t go to America, but be friendly and welcoming to Americans

  • Cancel any vacations in the United States. There are plenty of things to see and do in Canada. Honestly, our dollar is likely to tank anyway, so American vacations are going to become more expensive
  • Sell American properties. Get your money out while you still can. If it’s not Trump, then climate change will certainly destroy the value of properties in places that Canadians love to flock, including Florida, Palm Springs, and Arizona. (If extreme weather doesn’t destroy your property, the inability to get insurance certainly will reduce the property’s resale value!)
  • Invite American friends and acquaintances to visit Canada. Tourism is one Canadian export that Trump cannot put tariffs on. Foreign visitors spend their money in our country.
  • Welcome visiting Americans with open arms. Talk to them about how important Canada’s relationship with America is, and the importance of resisting Trump
  • Send Canadian goods to American friends and relatives as gifts

Travel elsewhere

Fly on Canadian airlines

  • Air Canada
  • WestJet
  • Porter
  • Flair
  • Air Transat
  • Sunwing

Avoid American airlines:

  • Delta
  • American Airlines
  • United
  • Southwest
  • JetBlue
  • Alaska
  • Hawaiian
  • Spirit
  • Frontier
  • Allegiant

What else?