As trade war tensions wax and wane, people north of the 49th parallel aren’t meeting U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats of tariffs and annexation with their characteristic politeness.

“Canadians are justly reacting to the imposition of tariffs with outrage, recognizing that they are aimed at their prosperity and quality of life,” says Brock University Associate Professor of Theory and Rhetoric Andrew Pendakis.

Assistant Professor of Sport Management Taylor McKee says many Canadians are responding to these threats by tapping into the use of traditional sport language and doubling down on the connection between hockey and national identity.

“The use of common sporting cliches — we’re going to fight hard; we’re not going to back down; the Gordie Howe ‘elbows up’ reference — are being articulated even by politicians, and it is highly resonating with people,” he says. “The national sporting character is also tied to this ‘anxiousness’ of how Canadian identity is being performed through hockey. In the recent 4 Nations Face Off game between Canada and the U.S., for example, that was married with a real and somewhat credible anxiety about national sovereignty that fans perceived as playing out on the ice.”

This also ties into Canadian “myths of identity,” he says, where “Canadians viscerally connect their identity as being in opposition to America.”

Professor of Marketing and Consumer Psychology Antonia Mantonakis says this phenomenon of “dissociative identity” is also influencing purchasing and marketing behaviours in the country.

Her research in the Journal of Business Research shows that consumers are more likely to purchase something tied to an “associative” identity and less likely to buy products that have a “dissociative” identity.

“Canadian consumers, now more than ever, have a strong dissociative identity from the U.S.,” she says. “It’s not just that they’re choosing the Canadian option, it’s that they’re not choosing the American products.”

Mantonakis, who is also a Fellow at Brock’s Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI), says the beverage alcohol industry is capitalizing on the current lack of U.S. competition on store shelves by loudly and proudly sharing the stories behind its “Made in Canada” products.

She says the changes in consumer behaviour occurring as a result could be permanent, too.

“We’re seeing a lot more people using their platforms to shout out ‘I am Canadian’ in whatever way they can,” she says. “When we think about consumer preferences and longer-term purchasing behaviors, we’re now seeing consumers picking Canadian wines when they may have been choosing California wines. They enjoy that new product, choose it again the next time and that forms a purchasing habit — which is how brand loyalty is created.”

McKee says sport ownership is also likely to continue to capitalize on the rise in Canadian sentiment.

“It certainly is changing the way games are being sold to Canadians, and I think you’re going to see this notion of ‘Made in Canada’ sport be very popular this summer,” he says.

He also cautions that continued uncertainty could negatively impact “the long-term partnership structures of Canadian and American sport ventures.” That could include a variety of ways leagues conduct business on both sides of the border, he says, such as impacts on market expansion initiatives, stadium renovations or the allocation of working visas for players.

Pendakis says the current climate is also sparking conversations about future allyship with the U.S. and what the “us/them” way of thinking truly means — even beyond the relationship with Canada’s southern neighbour.

“Our own government has placed tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, copying the policy of the Americans. These are cars we desperately need in the context of a climate emergency and that help to employ people — far poorer than us — in the industrial heartlands of China,” he says. “Why is the livelihood of a Canadian more important than that of someone in China?”

It also marks an opportunity “for Canadians, and everyone else, to begin reflecting on the logics of global capitalism and on the limits of zero-sum thinking,” Pendakis says.

“It’s a chance for us to re-think the way we distinguish between political friends and enemies.”