Avoiding US goods and services – from tech to whisky to air travel – has forced many to find a new way of living

Avoiding US goods and services – from tech to whisky to air travel – has forced many to find a new way of living

This week the US imposed 50% tariffs on US$20bn (£15bn) of Canadian goods, and Mark Carney, the country’s prime minister, has vowed to match them “dollar for dollar” after the collapse of trade talks between the two countries last weekend. Donald Trump retaliated on Thursday by ordering the federal government to rename Lake Ontario to Lake America.

Such actions have added fuel to a widespread boycott of US products and services by Canadians that began early last year in response to the president’s trade war and threats to annex his northern neighbour.

More than 3,500 people from across Canada shared with the Guardian via an online callout how they have made changes to their lives in response to the US administration’s political and economic stance. Many expressed deep anger and sadness, but remained resolute that this was now a new way of living.

  • VelvetPinkOtter123@lemmy.worldEnglish
    431·
    10 days ago

    “I think you need to be in Canada to understand how deep the animosity to the US is”

    I too have deep animosity for the US, and I live here

    • Ann Archy@lemmy.worldEnglish
      142·
      10 days ago

      If there is one thing US citizens and non-US citizens can agree upon, it’s that the US can fuck right off.

      • VelvetPinkOtter123@lemmy.worldEnglish
        14·
        9 days ago

        I would, but I can’t just cross the border and declare myself a citizen of another country

        So, no, I’m not. I’m kind of stuck here

        Trust me, if England or Canada or Australia or Scotland, or Ireland, hell, maybe even Switzerland or France or Germany, etc… said I was free to live there for the rest of my life, I’d start packing my shit tonight

        • Ann Archy@lemmy.worldEnglish
          3·
          10 days ago

          Forget Switzerland. You can’t afford it. Also they are very weird. You know, isolation does things to people.

        • ranzispa@mander.xyzEnglish
          21·
          9 days ago

          Know plenty Americans who stay 3 months in Schengen and 3 months in Ireland/Serbia. They go back and forth not to surpass the tourist visa limit indefinitely.

          But that’s mostly because they want to keep working in the US remotely. Otherwise, you can just get a job elsewhere and generally it’s not to difficult to get a residency permit with a job.

          • VelvetPinkOtter123@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            9 days ago

            The uphill battle that I personally face is that I’m up there in age. I’m not old, but I’m not a young man who’s going to put more money into the retirement and health care system then I’ll potentially use

            So countries are less likely to accept older people unless they have their own money or a valued skill

            I do OK, by most Americans standards I’m well off, but I’m not rich. Not rich enough for a country to just be like, “yeah, whatever”. And my skills are common. I’m in software and so maybe in the 90s they would have jumped to have more developers, but these days they teach programming to kids and with AI being as trending as it is, I doubt they’re hunting for more developers

            And it’s not just me, it’s my family.

            And then there’s a quality of life thing. At my age with a family I can’t exactly start over at the bottom of a corporate ladder and try to climb my way back up. Even if I could get a job doing something like, “teaching English”, I’m sure it would be a massive pay cut. I make well over six figures, work from home, and set my own hours

            My job is fantastic. My country is kinda shit. Not as bad as some other places in the world, life isn’t awful here, but the days of being proud to be an American are long over and if I could keep my job and just move to the other side of the ocean like I can move between states, I’d do it in a second

            It’s not that easy

          • VelvetPinkOtter123@lemmy.worldEnglish
            51·
            10 days ago

            My age is a bit of a factor

            I also have a family so it’s not just me

            I’ve looked. Nothing too crazy but I’ve explored the idea of getting my child out of a part of the world where people think teachers should have guns

              • VelvetPinkOtter123@lemmy.worldEnglish
                61·
                10 days ago

                I’m trying to go to England, not Singapore. Pretty sure they don’t need Americans to teach the English how to speak English

                • M0oP0o@mander.xyzEnglish
                  61·
                  10 days ago

                  Don’t tell them that, they likely think that they do. They also seem to think a temp job overseas is the same as emigrating.

                  • M0oP0o@mander.xyzEnglish
                    6·
                    10 days ago

                    YOU CAN NOT LEAVE AMERICA AND DENOUNCE YOUR CITIZENSHIP, STOP PAYING TAXES WHILE ABROAD (a thing unique to the states), OR BECOME NOT AN AMERICAN WITHOUT BECOMING STATELESS.

                    Saying you are “free to leave” is not really telling the whole story now is it? The fact that we need it in all caps might just get the concept though.

                  • VelvetPinkOtter123@lemmy.worldEnglish
                    41·
                    9 days ago

                    You said I could go teach English. To who? The English in England? Scotland? Ireland? Canada? Australia?

                    I’m trying to move to a place where they already speak English, dipshit

              • Ann Archy@lemmy.worldEnglish
                1·
                9 days ago

                Stop being mean. I get it. I get like that too, but it’s bad and we should both stop and let our words speak for themselves.

          • Ann Archy@lemmy.worldEnglish
            2·
            9 days ago

            I upvoted everything and everyone in this thread for the record. Keep fighting, it’s a good fight and makes me think.

      • architect@thelemmy.clubEnglish
        61·
        10 days ago

        Not really though. Other countries don’t take Americans like Americans take others. Funny that.

      • M0oP0o@mander.xyzEnglish
        51·
        10 days ago

        I have never understood this idea since no you are not.

        Its a bit harder to emigrate then us people seem to think, less so without skills in demand (and lets face it americans are not super well known for being good workers these days).

          • M0oP0o@mander.xyzEnglish
            31·
            10 days ago

            this ain’t England or Canada, they can just lay you off on the spot.

            HA HA HA HA.

            Oh shit you are serious!

              • M0oP0o@mander.xyzEnglish
                21·
                10 days ago

                and Canada still puts the Queen on their money.

                And? What does that have to do with paying taxes as an ex pat from the states? You are a pariah state, and also have to notify the government about layoffs (its called WARN). Oh but please brag more about how shit your nation is, I am sure I will be humbled into compliance.

                • Ann Archy@lemmy.worldEnglish
                  1·
                  10 days ago

                  I thought we were talking about whether Canada and the UK can fire people at will like in the US…

                  • M0oP0o@mander.xyzEnglish
                    2·
                    10 days ago

                    As someone that has fired people in Canada both with and without cause (layoff), the call out is funny. We are a real nation that does not have the “right to work” us bullshit.

                    I am glad we don’t, its not even hard to work with as an employer. This whole thing is about this other dood saying that americans are more hireable in other nations and that americans can just leave if they don’t like it there. (They can not).

                    Actually if you take a gander at the whole thing this firing statement was just an aside.

                  • M0oP0o@mander.xyzEnglish
                    31·
                    10 days ago

                    So why the hell are you telling people that they can just leave easy? Come now, even your tale paints a fucking nightmare. You even describe the very issue with an american living outside of america (mostly the us sucks in and out of the usa). Did you know most places also let you move around freely inside of the nation? Hell I have done it twice in my life here in Canada, and its not something to brag about. This is a big issue with americans, your damn exceptionalism because most countries have a fuck lot more then half that. You are living in a shit nation throwing shit at other nations.

                    You don’t get to tell people fables and then tell them to “grow up” due to your situation being shit, it makes zero sense.