WSJ - August 5, 2018: The article highlights that Canadian consumers are irritated by Trump’s tariffs and bashing of Trudeau are buying Canadian; as cross-border production chains challenge boycotters.

As Canadians are ticked-off, irked by U.S. metals tariffs and President Trump’s harsh words for their prime minister, are boycotting American products and buying Canadian.

“Usually we don’t pay that much attention to it. ...You tend to buy the products that taste good or you buy the products that are low in price where taste isn’t an issue,” said Garland Coulson, an entrepreneur from Spruce Grove, Alberta.

The push, is picking up speed, to buy more Canadian products—and to boycott American ones—gained strength after the U.S. levied 25% tariffs on Canadian steel and 10% on aluminum starting June 1 and President Trump called Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “Very dishonest & weak” on Twitter following a Group of Seven (G7) meeting the following week. Canada retaliated, in turn imposing tariffs on some U.S. products, including foodstuffs such as ketchup, orange juice and yogurt.

But Canadians’ efforts to buy more local products often run into a conundrum. What’s really Canadian? (BattleForWorld: The harsh reality of globalization over the decades where companies merged as subsidiaries to holding corporations.)

One Canadian customer said: “I’ll swear up and down something is 100% Canadian,” said Ms. Mouratidis, who curates a Facebook list of Canadian household goods, food products and other items. Ms. Mouratidis said she was convinced Old Dutch chips were all-Canadian until she found out Old Dutch Foods Ltd. is a subsidiary. The parent company, Old Dutch Foods Inc., is based in Minnesota, in the United States.

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