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

Read the original at The Free Press ↗
Cite

Subramanya, R. (2026, September 8). This Week in Canada: America Is Our Enemy and Doesn’t Even Know It. The Free Press. https://www.thefp.com/p/this-week-canada-america-enemy-doesnt-know-trade-tariff

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

The Free Press · collected 2026-09-08 · by Rupa Subramanya

Quick 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 locally by qwen2.5:14b 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).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

American tourism organizations have been aggressively trying to attract Canadian visitors back to the United States through various promotional campaigns since President Donald Trump returned to office and imposed tariffs on Canadian products, causing an informal boycott of travel to the US. Josh Loewen, a Vancouver marketing executive, notes that after Trump’s re-election, Canadian travel to the U.S. dropped dramatically due to the president's rhetoric about making Canada the 51st state and the ensuing trade war. Despite slight improvements in border crossings from May to July, recent escalations—such as the imposition of up to 50% import taxes by both countries—have renewed doubts about any recovery. Loewen believes current efforts to win back Canadian visitors are futile until a new U.S. president takes office and eases tensions between the two nations.

Written for “US Canada Trade War” on 2026-10-23, grounded in this article and the 55 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 US Canada Trade War
Politics · 56 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans strongly left and hedges 10% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Canadian countertariffs take effect on U.S. imports same event · 100%
The Globe and Mail
⚖️ Leans left further right than this 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 4 📰 publisher trust 53
“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.”
Morning Update: Say hello to Canadian countertariffs same event · 100%
The Globe and Mail
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 10% hedged 4 of 42 📰 publisher trust 53
“Both articles mention Ottawa imposing countertariffs on American imports, and President Trump's response to it on September 8, 2026.”
Canada braces for prolonged trade war as counter-tariffs on US take effect same event · 100%
BBC News
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 6% hedged 2 of 31 📰 publisher trust 69
“Both articles report on the same specific occurrence: Canada imposing counter-tariffs on US goods on September 8, 2026.”
Canada’s retaliatory US tariffs take effect as trade dispute grows same event · 100%
The Guardian
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 5% hedged 1 of 19 📰 publisher trust 66
“Both articles mention the implementation of Canada's retaliatory tariffs on American imports, with identical date and time”
Trump ratchets up trade war, moves to ban many Canadian goods from entering US same event · 100%
ABC News (US)
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 8% hedged 2 of 24 📰 publisher trust 59
“Both articles report on President Trump's move to ban Canadian goods from entering the US, specifically mentioning certain products and the effective date of September 29”
Trade 'war' or not, are Canada and the United States now dug in? different event · 95%
CBC News
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 48% hedged 23 of 48 📰 publisher trust 74
“The articles discuss similar themes but describe different time periods and perspectives on Canada-US trade relations, rather than the same specific incident.”
Rob Breakenridge: Pierre Poilievre ably makes the case for Canada, in America different event · 95%
National Post
⚖️ Leans right further right than this 🔴 15% hedged 5 of 33 📰 publisher trust 60
“The articles discuss different aspects of Canada-US relations, with Article A providing a general overview of Canadian sentiment towards America over time and Article B focusing on Pierre Poilievre's recent appearance on Fox Business and its aftermath.”
Majority of Canadians now see U.S. as an enemy, and Trump is the reason: poll different event · 90%
National Post
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 17% hedged 10 of 58 📰 publisher trust 60
“Article B is referencing data from 2023 and also mentions the Iraq War in 2003, whereas Article A refers to current events in 2026”
Conrad Black: Mark Carney puts it all on the line different event · 90%
National Post
⚖️ Leans left further right than this 🔴 19% hedged 6 of 32 📰 publisher trust 60
“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”
The US-Canada 'divorce' and the $1.2 trillion fallout different event · 90%
ABC News (AU)
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 8% hedged 3 of 36 📰 publisher trust 68
“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.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
10
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
10%
1 of 10 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans strongly left
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
96/100
The Free Press's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
56
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-09-08 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

The Free Press · 353 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
6 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
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🔮 Welcome back to This Week in Canada, where your Thanksgiving hopefully was filled with turkey pie and happiness over whatever family arguments you managed to survive; the Israeli flag won’t fly if Mississauga’s mayor has anything to say about it; and more.
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🔮 And Americans who heard Poilievre talk about “free enterprise” and “getting government out of the way” may imagine that he is an extremely northern version of Javier Milei, the president of Argentina.
2026-09-15 · assertive framing · This Week in Canada: ‘Canada First’ Is Easier Said Than Done
🔮 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 · assertive framing · This Week in Canada: America Is Our Enemy and Doesn’t Even Know It
Also by Rupa Subramanya
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2026-10-15 · The Free Press
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2026-10-13 · The Free Press
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2026-09-29 · The Free Press
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 6 articles by Rupa Subramanya →

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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