Canadian first, always

William McDonald, a 38-year-old diesel mechanic in Thunder Bay, started boycotting US goods the month the tariffs landed. His bills went up and he kept going.

“Canadian is always the first choice”

What the switch costs him

Swapping US beer for Canadian runs him an extra C$1,000 a year. Groceries cost about C$50 more a week.

“you work that extra hour to pay for it”

A schoolyard bully

McDonald compares Trump's treatment of Canada to a kid who stomps and yells when nobody cowers. It is the mood behind the whole boycott.

“a lot like the schoolyard bully yelling and stomping their feet”

Fifty percent, dollar for dollar

This week the US put 50% tariffs on US$20bn of Canadian goods. Prime minister Mark Carney promised to match them after trade talks collapsed.

Renaming Lake Ontario

Trump answered on Thursday by ordering the federal government to call Lake Ontario "Lake America". Annexation talk has run alongside the tariffs since last year.

3,500 people wrote in

Canadians from across the country told the Guardian how they changed their lives. Plenty were angry or sad, but nobody sounded like they were going back.

The boycott list

Out: US groceries, petrol, Teslas, Jack Daniel's, Netflix, Amazon Prime, AppleTV, Disney+, X, Facebook, Instagram. Also gone: trips south of the border.

Elbows up

Forty percent of grocery shoppers now check where a product came from, per an Angus Reid survey in July. ABUS and "Elbows Up", a hockey term, became shorthand.

Not even a layover

Denise in Winnipeg avoids US airlines, US-owned hotels and even connecting flights through American airports. Her investments moved to Canadian companies.

“BDS is the only tool ordinary people have to stand up for our values”

Yams in the back garden

Elizabeth Lorenz, 68, a retired teacher in Nanaimo, rewrites recipes around missing ingredients. She planted yams and sweet potatoes because only American ones are sold.

“I read labels on packaged food, and if it's made in the US, I don't buy it”

Food miles she'll accept

Her produce now comes from Mexico, Peru, Guatemala, Chile and South Africa. She knows that's worse for the climate and buys it anyway.

“my outrage at America's greed and corruption trumps my environmental concerns”

Four hours instead of one

Jane, 54, a teacher in Camlachie, drives to Toronto for games she used to see in Detroit an hour away. Holidays are Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Europe now.

“The relationship, in my eyes, has been permanently tarnished”

There's an app for it

Jane swapped Heinz, Kraft and Charmin for Canadian brands using CanMade, Buy Beaver, O SCANada and madeinca.ca. Origin stickers made shopping easy again.

“Checking origin of product information has become second nature to me now”

He sold the MacBook

James Buchan, 36, in Halifax, sold a year-old MacBook, iPhone, AirTags and AirPods. His email, maps, calendar and language apps are European, and he left four social networks.

“Tech was the easiest, I do not miss my iPhone or Mac at all”

A whiskey club goes dry

Kurt, 61, a retired engineer in Calgary, and his tasting group used to spend about US$10,000 a year on American whiskies. Since Liberation Day they have spent zero.

“we just stumbled on a whole new batch of Canadian equivalents”

Where the revenue goes

Labels only get you so far. Kurt notes Kraft makes things in Canada with Canadian workers and ingredients, but the money still flows to a US parent.

“It actually pains me to buy a product that, yes, it's made here in Canada”

Broken past repair

Sarika, 61, an academic in Vancouver, says she won't return even if the regime changes. Vikram in Toronto refuses to visit family in the US and has them come to him.

“I won't go back to buying US products, even if the regime changes, because the US is unreliable and untrustworthy”

The best thing that happened

Kurt thinks Canada comes out stronger. William says a mutual enemy did what years of politics couldn't, and pulled a divided country together.

“sometimes it just takes a mutual enemy to find one's resolve”