Avoiding US goods and services – from tech to whisky to air travel – has forced many to find a new way of living
This week the US imposed 50% tariffs on US$20bn (£15bn) of Canadian goods, and Mark Carney, the country’s prime minister, has vowed to match them “dollar for dollar” after the collapse of trade talks between the two countries last weekend. Donald Trump retaliated on Thursday by ordering the federal government to rename Lake Ontario to Lake America.
Such actions have added fuel to a widespread boycott of US products and services by Canadians that began early last year in response to the president’s trade war and threats to annex his northern neighbour.
More than 3,500 people from across Canada shared with the Guardian via an online callout how they have made changes to their lives in response to the US administration’s political and economic stance. Many expressed deep anger and sadness, but remained resolute that this was now a new way of living.
For anyone interested about companies that have made massive strides since the tariffs:
alt for google : proton (switzerland)
alt browser: vivaldi (norway/germany)
alt search engine : qwant (france) ecosia (germany)
alt for note taking : joplin(england)
alt for win : lunix. (global) -free
alt for mfp: kazio (new zealand)
alt for fitbit : polar (finland)
alt for phones : fairphone (netherlands /china)
alt for github : codeberg (germany)
alt for amazon : shop app (shopify canada)
alt for music : deezer (france)
for books : kobo (canada)
alt for ms office : libreoffice (germany) free
alt card wallet : catima
alt for cloud: nord(lithuania)
alt for streaming : make a jellyfin server - free (throw it on ubuntu (england) start hosting your own stuff local). i suppose also plex but that is a californian company.
alt to paypal : klarna (europe) - that said we still do need more ecommerce to be supportive of alternatives for this and card wallets other than google pay. this is really lagging behind.
Most companies deliver now. So you can just shop online at local stores and have things delivered instead of using Amazon.
Ups for Deezer! I’ve been using for over 3 years. Good stuff!
Man, fuck Shopify. Tobin is a shitsmear of a human.
Another one? Do we mass produce these assholes for some reason? Because I feel that somewhere along the production line there is fat to trim.
I think it’s just really hard to be a big tech CEO unless you’re willing to shit down many people’s throats.
Don’t forget to blame people for putting shit in your pants. That is a key skill.
Many such cases.
If you look at all the current e-commerce alternatives : they are all dirt to dirt. shop just doesnt happen to be american dirt if you’re attempting the route of voting with the wallet.
unless you have a good alternative. i’ll wait for you to post it to help others find better options.
No you’re right. I’m being totally serious when I say we can’t swap platforms each time a CEO comes out as a fascist. It’s just too troublesome because we could be doing actual good instead of looking for another obscure platform that doesn’t quite meet our needs.
I’m just lucky because I’m in Japan and I have some more alternatives, but even something like Rakuten is probably not 100% fascism-free (iirc, their mobile segment has a contract with Starlink).
yeah it seems no matter what they are all in bed with eachother. it’s a real thin plank we walk here. i am just hopeful we see more alternatives spring up that throw this power ball off it’s tracks or another election settles it a bit easier for more alternatives.
hopefully Canada can get closer ties to europe (who i understand are not perfect either) but as far as sustainable survival would likely be a more comfortable fit.