As the threat of a trade war with the United States looms and continues to dominate the news cycle, many Canadians are concerned about Canada’s relationship with its longest and closest ally, new polling shows.
An Ipsos poll conducted exclusively for Global News and published Wednesday showed the Canada-U.S. relationship was the third-most important issue facing the country today, with 11 per cent of Canadians who were surveyed ranking it as their top priority.
Darrell Bricker, CEO of Ipsos Global Public Affairs, said Canada’s relationship with the U.S. is a new issue that has emerged in the debate and it stems from a “pride element” as well as a “potential personal risk element” in the face of tariffs threatened by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Bricker said the polling suggests that Canadians are concerned about potential big tariffs being imposed by the U.S. and if Trump wages an “economic war against Canada,” what it will mean for them.
“What [Canadians are] talking about here is something that another country could do that could affect my personal well-being at home,” he said.
The poll showed a demographic and political shift with older Canadians and Liberal voters placing higher importance to Canada’s relationship with the U.S.
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According to the poll, 19 per cent of Canadians aged 55 years and older said this topped their list of issues compared with eight per cent of those aged 35 to 54 and five per cent among the 18 to 34 age bracket.
Also, 19 per cent of Liberal voters, eight per cent of NDP voters and six per cent of Conservative voters said this was the most pressing issue facing Canada right now.
“It’s a very strong issue for people who say that they’re voting for the Liberal Party,” Bricker said.
Ottawa’s ties with Washington ranked behind inflation and the cost of living (23 per cent) and health care (18 per cent) – which Canadians continue to see as the most pressing issues for the country, Ipsos polling shows.
The last time Ipsos did similar polling was in December 2024.
Since then, housing has dropped to an overall fourth place with eight per cent of Canadians placing it first on their list of issues.
Polling at seven per cent, economy, unemployment and jobs rounded out the top five priorities for Canadians.
Tensions between U.S. and Canada have risen since Trump won the election last fall.
Trump has made multiple threats of imposing tariffs on Canada, with a sweeping 25 per cent tax on all Canadian goods planned for as early as next week.
He has also threatened tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminum and vehicles coming into the U.S as well as sweeping global reciprocal tariffs.
In response to Trump’s original vow of 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods, Canada has released its own list of planned counter-tariffs.
Amid the tariff tensions, Trump has repeatedly floated the idea of Canada becoming a 51st state.
Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said that’s “never going to happen” and “conversations around the 51st state are a non-starter.”
The tariff threats and the 51st state comments have angered Canadians across the country and given rise to a growing “Buy Canadian” movement.
In another Ipsos poll published earlier this month, 68 per cent of Canadians surveyed said they think less of the U.S. as a country and two-thirds said they will be avoiding purchasing U.S.-made goods and travel down south going forward.
These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between Feb. 21 and 24, 2025, on behalf of Global News. For this survey, a sample of 1,000 Canadians aged 18+ was interviewed online. Quotas and weighting were employed to ensure that the sample’s composition reflects that of the Canadian population according to census parameters. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within ± 3.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Canadians aged 18+ been polled. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of the population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error.
— With files from Global News’ Sean Boynton
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
As tariffs loom, U.S. ties among top concerns for many Canadians: Ipsos
