This Week in Canada: America Is Our Enemy and Doesn’t Even Know It

The Free Press · collected 2026-09-08 · by Rupa Subramanya
Read the original at The Free Press ↗

Summary

A columnist for This Week in Canada argues that Americans are unaware that Canada views them as enemies, citing recent surveys showing a significant shift in Canadian attitudes towards the US. According to a Leger survey, 41% of Canadians now see the US as an "enemy country", up from 26% since June 2025. A Politico poll found that nearly half of Canadians consider the US a bigger threat to world peace than Russia and would rather rely on China than Trump's America. The columnist suggests that this shift in attitude may be driven by anti-Trump sentiment rather than anti-Americanism.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-08, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
10
claim-shaped sentences
Uncertain
10%
1 of 10 hedged
Leaning
Leans strongly left
of the writing, not the subject
Publisher trust
96.3
red-flag proxy, not a credibility rating
Outlets on this story
40
Politics
Narrative spread
1
articles carrying this framing
Analyzed 2026-09-08 · how these are computed

AI analysis (generated at analysis time, not now)

Story summary

Here are 6-9 sentences summarizing the real-world news stories:

The Republican Party is holding a midterm convention in Dallas, Texas, which will feature keynote addresses by President Donald Trump and Vice President Pence. This type of event is typically reserved for presidential election years, but Republicans hope it will energize their base ahead of the midterms. The convention will focus on key issues such as border security, economic growth, and American values.

Meanwhile, tensions between the US and Canada are escalating over trade. The Canadian government has announced that it will impose retaliatory tariffs on US goods worth $27.6 billion, in response to the latest round of tariffs imposed by President Trump's administration. This move is expected to have significant economic consequences for both countries, including higher prices for consumers and potential disruptions to supply chains.

In related news, the Canadian government is considering using energy exports as leverage in the trade dispute with the US. However, experts warn that this approach could backfire and harm Canada's domestic oil industry. Some are also questioning whether Prime Minister Mark Carney has the constitutional authority to block or tax Alberta's oil exports to the US.

The US Justice Department has reportedly ordered its antitrust division to pause all work with the Canadian government as trade tensions intensify. However, the DOJ disputes this report and says that no such directive was given. The controversy may be an indication of how far the trade dispute between the two countries has escalated.

Additionally, the economic impact of counter-tariffs is expected to hit not just consumers but also businesses that rely on imported goods, including semi-trailers built in the US that are used to haul goods into and around Canada.

Written for “US-Canada Trade War Escalation” on 2026-09-08, grounded in this article and the 39 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The article's own words the score was based on. Each is quoted verbatim and was checked against the article text before being stored, so you can find it in the original.
Score -0.85 Confidence high
Leaning score -0.85 for article 6943 (high confidence, 2 verified quotes) · logged 2026-09-08

Story

📰 US-Canada Trade War Escalation
Politics · 40 article(s) covering the same event.

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans strongly left and hedges 10% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
The Globe and Mail
⚖️ Leans left further right than this 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 4 📰 publisher trust 41
“Both articles mention retaliatory tariffs and President Trump's escalating trade war, with Article A mentioning the Canadian response in a broader context and Article B focusing on the implementation of those tariffs.”
The Globe and Mail
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 10% hedged 4 of 42 📰 publisher trust 41
“Both articles mention Ottawa imposing countertariffs on American imports, and President Trump's response to it on September 8, 2026.”
BBC News
⚖️ Leans left further right than this 🔴 6% hedged 2 of 31 📰 publisher trust 96
“Both articles report on the same specific occurrence: Canada imposing counter-tariffs on US goods on September 8, 2026.”
The Guardian
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 5% hedged 1 of 19 📰 publisher trust 94
“Both articles mention the implementation of Canada's retaliatory tariffs on American imports, with identical date and time”
National Post
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 17% hedged 10 of 58 📰 publisher trust 96
“Article B is referencing data from 2023 and also mentions the Iraq War in 2003, whereas Article A refers to current events in 2026”
National Post
⚖️ Leans left further right than this 🔴 19% hedged 6 of 32 📰 publisher trust 96
“Article A discusses a disagreement between governments over Mark Carney's account of a trade agreement change, whereas Article B discusses Canadians' general perception of the US as an enemy and their treatment of past American presidents”
ABC News (AU)
⚖️ Leans left further right than this 🔴 8% hedged 3 of 36 📰 publisher trust 60
“Article A discusses a current trade relationship and tension between the US and Canada, whereas Article B references past surveys and opinions about the relationship between Canadians and Americans.”
The Hindu
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 no claims extracted 📰 publisher trust 96
“Article A quotes Trump making a statement about trade with Canada, while Article B discusses Canadians' perceptions of America and mentions Trump but does not describe him making this specific comment”
Toronto Star
⚖️ Leans strongly left 🔴 2% hedged 1 of 49 📰 publisher trust 62
“Article B discusses general Canadian sentiment towards the US and Trump's presidency in 2023 and does not specifically mention the events described in Article A”
National Post
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 16 📰 publisher trust 96
“Article A describes a single post by Trump on his Truth Social platform, while Article B discusses Canada's general sentiment towards the US and mentions past trade tensions”

Publisher

The Free Press · 63 article(s) · 0 correction(s) detected
No corrections detected for this publisher. That may mean careful reporting, or simply that nothing has been checked.

Who wrote this

Rupa Subramanya
1 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 More than half of those surveyed said that America was no longer a reliable ally and that they would rather rely on China than on President Donald Trump’s America.
The only article under this byline in the corpus.

Topics

America Canada Canadians This Week in Canada U.S.

Subjects

Canadians NORP · 6× America GPE · 4× Canada GPE · 2× U.S. GPE · 2× American NORP · 1× Americans NORP · 1× George W. Bush PERSON · 1× Leger ORG · 1× Trump PERSON · 1× the United States GPE · 1×

Narrative

The second percentage has jumped 15 points since June 2025, and among Canadians at least 55 years old, 51 percent regard the country with which we share the world’s longest undefended border as an enemy.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-08
🔮 More than half of those surveyed said that America was no longer a reliable ally and that they would rather rely on China than on President Donald Trump’s America.
2026-09-08 · The Free Press
This Week in Canada: America Is Our Enemy and Doesn’t Even Know It · assertive framing

Claims (10 extracted, 1 hedged)

Welcome back to This Week in Canada, where America is the enemy, and every time Trump lowers the trade temperature, Canada cranks it back up. asserted
Canada → welcome → it
Let’s jump right in! asserted
’s → let → ?
Canadians have been angry with American presidents before, but we always distinguished the country from the man running it. asserted
we → distinguish → it
During the Iraq War in 2003, 83 percent of Canadians said they liked Americans, according to one survey, even though 57 percent disliked the George W. Bush administration. uncertain
percent → say → administration
In 2023, only 1 percent of Canadians said Canada should treat the United States as an enemy, while 73 percent said it should be seen as a valued ally or at least as a friend. asserted
it → say → friend
Barely 20 percent of Canadians now call the U.S. an ally, a survey by Leger found, and 41 percent see America as an “enemy country.” asserted
percent → call → country
The second percentage has jumped 15 points since June 2025, and among Canadians at least 55 years old, 51 percent regard the country with which we share the world’s longest undefended border as an enemy. asserted
we → jump → enemy
I wrote about this unprecedented deterioration in Canadian attitudes back in February, when I wondered if the changes were anti-Americanism or anti-Trumpism. asserted
changes → write → February
A Politico poll then found that nearly half of Canadians considered the U.S. a bigger threat to world peace than Russia. asserted
U.S. → find → Russia
More than half of those surveyed said that America was no longer a reliable ally and that they would rather rely on China than on President Donald Trump’s America. asserted
they → survey → America
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