Shocking Poll: 66% of Canadians Say They'll NEVER Trust Americans Again—Is the World's Closest Alliance DOOMED Forever? Trump's chaos has shattered the unbreakable bond—new data reveals Canadians growing resentment rising, generational mistrust in Americans and a heartbreaking divide that's tearing friends apart. Dean Blundell Sep 21 September 21, 2025 The Saddest Casualty of Trump’s America: A Friendship Poisoned at the Source Polls say trust is broken. The border data says we’re quietly walking away. And on both sides, people are heartbroken about it. Thanks for being here. We wouldn’t be here without you, so we’re giving you 50% OFF for unlimited access for life. Monthly, Annual, and Founding plans. 🔒 Lock in the half-price rate forever. Ends September 30, 2025. I met them on a hot night in Sicily—a labour lawyer from California and her husband, the kind of couple who should have been bragging about the wine list or the hike they’d just finished. Instead, the moment they learned I’m from Toronto, she pressed her hands to her chest and said, “Oh my God, I’m so sorry. We didn’t vote for him, and we’re so sad about what he’s doing to our relationship with you.” I told her the only honest thing I could: “I feel sorry for you. We don’t have to live there—you do.” Over the next hour they talked about friends they’ve lost, how frightened they are, and why they were looking for a winter rental in Italy. She has clients in Vancouver and—like many Americans I met this summer—she and her husband are thinking about moving. With one jarring exception—a table of four oil guys celebrating “deregulation” and Trump “kicking some migrant ass”—Americans were mortified by what’s been done in their name. So are we. The numbers say it plainly: trust is broken This isn’t just a mood. It’s measurable—and it’s getting worse. In fresh Ipsos data (aggregated by the good people at Polling Canada), six in ten Canadians (60%) say we can never trust Americans the same way again, a figure that has held steady since tracking began in February. Seventy‑one percent think the kinds of trade and economic disputes we’re experiencing now will drag on for years, and only 42% believe Prime Minister Mark Carney will succeed in striking a new deal with the Trump administration. Overall, 51% approve of how Ottawa is handling the file, while just 30% buy the notion that “when Trump goes away, our problems go away.” Zoom out and it gets bleaker. Gallup’s latest country‑by‑country read finds Canadian approval of U.S. leadership at 15%, statistically in line with the Trump‑era lows of 2018 and 2020. Pew reports only 34% of Canadians hold a favourable view of the United States, a plunge of twenty points in a year, near historic lows in two decades of tracking. These aren’t fringe snapshots; they’re mainstream baselines. The “personal boycott” is real—and it’s showing up in border math Canadians aren’t staging marches at the bridges; we’re just not going. Statistics Canada’s border counts show a steep, sustained drop in 2025 in Canadians returning from the U.S.—a tight proxy for Canadians visiting the U.S. in the first place. July 2025: Canadian auto returns from the U.S. fell 36.9% year‑over‑year; air returns from the U.S. fell 25.8%. August 2025 (preliminary “leading indicator”): Canadian returns from the U.S. by air down 25.4%; by automobile down 33.9%, year‑over‑year. June 2025: Auto returns down 32.3%; air returns down 15.7%; meanwhile, Canadians returning from overseas trips increased year‑over‑year. We’re travelling—we’re just choosing elsewhere. Border communities feel it first. In Washington state, officials say Canadian crossings have slumped notably this year, and businesses are offering discounts to woo back Canadians. That’s not politics—it’s payroll. NEW NUMBERS: Canada’s Boycott Is Crushing Trump's America Dean Blundell · Aug 12 Canadians answered Donald Trump’s tariffs and “51st state” taunts with the most Canadian counterpunch possible: we opted out. *We chase the stories US Media won’t, add receipts, and arm you with context you can trust. To celebrate this community’s humbling and incredible growth, we’re giving 50% off annual memberships for life when you upgrade by August… Read full story The price tag south of the 49th None of this is free for the U.S. economy. Canadians have long been America’s largest source of international visitors—20.4 million visits in 2024—spending $20.5 billion and supporting ~140,000 U.S. jobs, according to the U.S. Travel Association. A modest 10% decline would mean ~2 million fewer visits, $2.1 billion less spending, and ~14,000 jobs at risk. We’re not talking hypotheticals anymore; 2025 declines are already well into double digits. Drill down and you can see where the money evaporates. The U.S. Commerce Department’s National Travel and Tourism Office notes that Canadian land visitors numbered 10.5 million in 2024, with an average per‑visitor spend of roughly $855—gas, hotel rooms, restaurants, outlet malls, ballgames, national parks. Shrink those visits by a third and border‑state economies feel it like a body blow. It even shows up in places you might not expect: Canadian searches for U.S. homes have dropped, with sharp declines in Florida metros, according to Redfin trends reported this week—yet another soft channel of cross‑border capital that’s seizing up. What poisoned the well Canadians aren’t allergic to America. We’re allergic to instability, hostility, and the daily threat display that now defines Washington. A tariff regime launched in February and ratcheted up to 35% in July turned a trusted, rules‑based partnership into a roulette wheel for businesses and families who live cross‑border lives. You can’t plan a season, never mind a supply chain, around Twitter‑level vendettas and emergency powers. That’s why 71% of Canadians expect today’s disputes to last years. And the damage Trump has done to Canada’s trust in Americans will last for generations. So will the decimation of trust Americans have in America, according to Trump’s former Lawyer, Ty Cobb: Right now, many Canadians believe that too. Trump is America’s scarlet letter that every American has to wear for the next three years. At least. “Anti‑American”? No—anti‑MAGA When Canadians say trust is broken, we are not saying we don’t like Americans. In fact, Pew finds a yawning ideological gap inside Canada: conservatives remain much more positive about the U.S. than progressives. That tells you Canada’s problem is with what the U.S. has become under MAGA politics, not with the country we grew up admiring. And when Gallup shows only 15% of Canadians approving of U.S. leadership, that’s not about your baseball team or your family; it’s about a government that treats allies like targets. Polling Canada Canadians Can Never Trust America Again As the United States grapples with a rising tide of political violence and government crackdown on fundamental rights, Canadians are not particularly optimistic about the nation either, as new polling from Ipsos suggests… Read more 2 days ago · 6 likes · Curtis Fric The human evidence is everywhere. Abroad, Americans keep apologizing for their government. At home, Canadians keep quietly changing their plans—cancelling the shopping weekends, swapping the Arizona winter for Portugal, spending our summer money at home or overseas. Airlines reduce capacity; border towns cut shifts; and a decades‑long habit of dropping into each other’s lives erodes into absence. Reporters can call it a “decline in bookings.” It feels more like grief. The saddest part For a century, our two countries didn’t just trade with each other; we celebrated each other. We cheered at each other’s rinks and ballparks, shared the longest undefended border on Earth, and built family trees that leap the 49th parallel. When a neighbour’s lights were out, we didn’t ask who they voted for—we ran an extension cord across the street. That’s what’s been damaged—not irreparably, but profoundly. It’s the poisoning of the well: once you’ve told a friend you can’t trust them, the next invitation stays unsent, the next road trip is rerouted, and the next generation grows up with fewer reasons to know each other at all. The Californian couple in Sicily didn’t need another policy explainer. They needed to be heard. So do the hotel clerks in Bellingham who’ve lost weekend hours, the outfitters in Montana waiting for the August rush that didn’t come, and the Canadian parents who just told their kids the spring‑break baseball game will have to wait. Trust is a civic technology—it takes years to build and minutes to drop. We’re living the drop. Where we go from here None of this is destiny. Canadians are practical people; Americans are resilient people. We know how to rebuild, but trust repairs with deeds: predictable rules, de‑escalation of tariffs, and leadership that speaks to neighbours like neighbours again. Until then, the “personal boycott” will keep whispering its verdict through the turnstiles and tills. To the Americans I met this summer who apologized: you don’t owe me one. We know who you are. We know what this relationship can be when it’s led with decency. And we want that back as much as you do. The free world does too. → We can’t thank you enough for being here. You drive this Substack. Subscribe and get 50% OFF for unlimited access. Monthly, Annual, and Founding plans. 🔒 Lock in the half-price rate forever. Ends September 30, 2025. → Share this post with one person who still thinks Trump is beloved and the world has a newfound respect for Trump’s America. We don’t. And it’s crushing us as much as it’s crushing you.