Canadian Anti-Hate Network

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The far right is struggling with how to respond to the possible implementation of tariffs and retaliatory tariffs between the governments of the United States and Canada. While a last-minute deal between Justin Trudeau and Donald Trump has bought a 30-day reprieve, Canadians are still facing the possibility of a trade war in March.
The tariff threats are allegedly a response to a laundry list of grievances held by the returning president against Canada. This currently includes the smuggling of fentanyl, illegal border crossings, alleged subsidization of Canada by the United States, and most recently, that USA banks cannot operate in Canada.
However, Trump’s justifications for his tariffs are untrue or exaggerated. Canada accounts for only 0.2 per cent of USA Fentanyl seizures, 1.5 per cent of border encounters with migrants, and a report by TD Economics places the current trade deficit between the United States and Canada around $45 billion (far less than the $200 billion claimed by Trump). US banks can (and do) operate in Canada with restrictions.
Donald Trump is a popular figure among large segments of the Canadian far-right. Chiefly, this is due to Trump’s policies of gutting government programs, foreign aid, and political attacks on anything they see as “woke.” These self-described nationalists believe becoming part of the United States would be the best thing for (some) Canadians, but are grappling with how to respond now that their political patriarch figure is threatening to hurt Canada.
Maxime Bernier, the leader of the far-right People’s Party of Canada, has suggested a bold policy of complete capitulation—and a moratorium on immigration.
“Instead of adopting a suicidal strategy to confront Trump, we must do what we should have done a long time ago to strengthen our economy and our bargaining position,” the party said in a release. “The transition will be rough, but not as much as complete bankruptcy and disintegration.”
Likewise, Canada’s far-right content outlet Rebel News has been churning out content about the tariffs, casting the possibility of a trade war as being not only the fault of the Canadian government but something desired by Ottawa to prop up the embattled and unpopular Liberal Party. A podcast episode titled “Trump's strongman tact dashes Trudeau's hopes for a trade war” claims that the Prime Minister “wanted a trade war to demonstrate supposed virtue before his reign of terror ends.”
The episode acknowledges that “tariffs aren’t great.”
Far from the only ones to hold this view, many far-right independent media figures have adopted the position that the threat of tariffs was needed to secure the border. However, the promise of a $1.3 billion border plan that bought the 30-day tariff pause was the same plan that was proposed in December 2024.
A screen capture of an independent content creator posting about his support for Trump. Source: X
X has become home to a community of Canadian far-right accounts that promote election conspiracies and previously advocated for a strong series of new laws and policies that would roll back reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ recognition, and more. Calling itself Maple MAGA, their network gained attention when Trump began talking about absorbing Canada into the Union as a state.
Either boosting the idea that Canada is to blame for the tariffs, or cheering on the proposed takeover of Canada, this subset of the far-right believes that Trump can save the nation from non-governmental organizations like the World Economic Fund, World Health Organization, and a string of others.
Some parts of the far-right are too extreme to support Trump, seeing him as another in a long line of Jewish-controlled politicians. That does not mean that they support Canadian democracy, of course, with many of them eagerly awaiting a societal collapse.
Post on the social media site X from a Canadian account supporting Trump’s annexation of Canada. Source: X
Statehood for all or portions of Canada previously found some resonance within the far-right. Separatist movements in Canada have periodically dabbled with the notion, including one of the founders of the Western Exit (WEXIT) movement and short-lived political party, who eventually shifted his position from independence to advocacy for Alberta becoming part of the United States.
The Trump and MAGA-supporting far-right in Canada are, paradoxically, often the fiercest wavers of Canadian flags. However, facing the reality of a trade war with the United States has placed them in the awkward position of supporting the economic devastation of working Canadians at a time in which most Canadians are finding a new anti-American sense of nationalism.