Tariffs: Court Rulings Diminish Canadians’ Confidence in U.S. Trade Relations

June 5, 2025

Every two weeks during this tumultuous period, we conduct a survey of Canadians and Americans to explore their views on the economy and their finances.

Highlights of our survey include…

PERCEPTIONS OF U.S. COURTS AND DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS

Awareness of recent conflicting U.S. court rulings on Trump’s tariffs is moderate: 21% of Canadians and 24% of Americans say they had heard “a lot” about them. In Canada, 38% say these developments made them less confident in Canada–U.S. trade relations, while only 16% felt more confident. The pattern is similar in the U.S., with 36% feeling less confident and 19% more confident.

Importantly, 45% of Canadians say the courts’ attempts to limit Trump’s trade powers increase their trust in U.S. democratic institutions, compared to 17% who say it decreases it. Among Americans, 38% say their trust increases, while 24% report the opposite.

TRAVEL TO THE U.S. 

More than a third of Canadians who had a trip planned to the U.S. (37%) say they chose to cancel it.

MUTUAL PERCEPTIONS: U.S. AND CANADA

Only 27% of Canadians currently consider the United States an ally, while 30% say it is a neutral country and 26% view it as an enemy, a notable decline of 6 points in the “enemy” perception since March. In contrast, 57% of Americans consider Canada an ally, 28% say neutral, and only 4% describe Canada as an enemy.

Methodology

This web survey on the economy was conducted from May 30 to June 1, 2025, with 1,626 Canadians and 1,014 U.S. residents, 18 years of age or older, randomly recruited from LEO’s online panel.

A margin of error cannot be associated with a non-probability sample in a panel survey. For comparison purposes, a probability sample of this size yields a margin of error no greater than ±2.51%, (19 times out of 20) for the Canadian sample and ±3.1%, (19 times out of 20) for the American sample.

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