Most Canadians say they expect to feel U.S. tariffs, want Canada to fight back: poll

Trump has imposed tariffs on Canada and countries around the world, and has threatened to increase them if those countries insist on retaliating with tariffs of their own.

Jack Jedwab, president and CEO of the Association for Canadian Studies, said Canadians “feel there’s a serious rift in our relations with the United States.”

The poll surveyed 1,631 people from April 5 to 6. Leger said it can’t assign a margin of error to the poll because it was a panel survey.

Leger says 60 per cent of Canadians reported they will personally feel the effects of U.S. tariffs, 18 per cent said they won’t and 22 per cent said they don’t know.

Sixty-three per cent of Canadians 65 years and older reported they will feel the effects, compared to 57 per cent of Canadians aged 18 to 24.

Jedwab said that’s because Canadians 65 and older are likely collecting pensions that could suffer from market swings, while younger Canadians are just entering the job market.

At 64 per cent and 66 per cent respectively, people in Ontario and Alberta are the most likely to report they will feel the effects of tariffs.

Forty-nine per cent of Quebecers told Leger they will feel the effects.

Jedwab said he’s not sure why Quebecers aren’t reporting the same level of tariff anxiety as the rest of the country and called them “outliers on the issue.”

Most Canadians told Leger they think Canada should fight back against Trump’s tariff agenda — though they’re not on the same page when it comes to how.

At 17 per cent support, the idea of dollar-for-dollar counter-tariffs was the most popular option polled, followed by “targeted sanctions on energy, raw materials, etc., reducing trade with the United States” (nine per cent support) and expanding trade with other countries (eight per cent support).

Despite Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s repeated rejection of trade measures targeting energy exports, Leger recorded nine per cent support for “targeted sanctions” in the province — the same as the national level.

The poll suggests only five per cent of respondents believe Canada should not retaliate or ignore the tariffs or are indifferent to the issue. Leger also reports that respondents’ preferred responses to the tariffs were largely consistent across income levels.

More than 50 per cent of Canadians told the firm they don’t trust Americans; just 26.5 per cent of Canadians said the same during former president Joe Biden’s term in office.

At 34 per cent, Conservative supporters were the most likely to report they trust Americans, compared to just four per cent of Bloc Québécois supporters.

Sixty-two per cent of Liberal supporters said they do not trust the Americans, along with 60.7 per cent of NDP supporters.

Sixty six per cent of Canadians reported in early September 2020, during Trump’s first term, that they didn’t trust Americans.

“That level of distrust, I don’t feel is conducive to pursuing negotiations towards a better (trade) deal,” Jedwab said.

“I have to think that dialogue is still essential, and keeping communication open is critical. If this can’t be settled between politicians, then perhaps there’s a role for civil society in engaging American counterparts to keep the lines of communication open so this level of distrust doesn’t deepen any further,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 11, 2025.