Canadians view U.S. tariffs, aggression as top issue facing nation

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OTTAWA – While Canadians view tariffs and U.S. aggression as the number one issue facing their country, a new poll found Mexicans and Americans have different views.

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Released this week by Leger, the poll of Canadians, Americans and Mexicans – the first trilateral survey conducted by the firm – shows that while Trump’s tariffs do rate high in the minds of Mexicans, roughly 1% of Americans consider unfair trade practices by Canada and Mexico to be a pressing issue.

According to the survey, 38% of Canadians consider tariffs, Trump and U.S. aggression to be the top issue facing Canada, with inflation (20%), housing affordability (10%), healthcare (8%) and government debt (4%) rounding out the top five concerns.

For Mexicans, the top issue for respondents was crime and public safety (31%), followed by drug cartels and organized crime (19%), the relationship with the U.S. and tariffs (18%), corruption (7%) and inflation (5%).

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Inflation, at 27%, was by far the most pressing issue on the minds of Americans, followed by immigration (8%), healthcare (7%), housing affordability (7%) and government debt (4%).

As for which nations Canadians, Americans and Mexicans considered their greatest enemy, 60% of Canadians said Russia, followed by 43% who said the United States, and 36% who said China.

As for Americans, 59% said Russia was an enemy country, followed by China at 53% and Mexico at 12%, with 5% considering Canada an enemy.

The top enemy nation for Mexicans was the United States (35%), followed by Russia (10%) and China (4%) – only 2% said Canada was an enemy to Mexico.

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As for impressions of world leaders, Prime Minister Mark Carney garnered 46% favorability from Canadians, compared to 10% of Americans and 11% of Mexicans.

Twenty-eight per cent of Canadians had an unfavourable opinion of Carney, along with 12% of Americans and 14% of Mexicans – with 18% of Canadians, 66% of Americans and 63% of Mexicans saying they didn’t know enough about him to express an opinion.

Sixty-eight per cent of both Canadians and Americans said they didn’t know enough about Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to express an opinion – 13% of Canadians, 11% of Americans and 62% approve of her, compared to the 10% of Canadians, 8% of Americans and 25% of Mexicans who don’t.

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As for Trump, 10% of Canadians, 41% of Americans and 11% of Mexicans approve of the U.S. President, while 81% of Canadians, 48% of Americans and 76% of Mexicans do not.

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Seventy per cent of Canadians and 62% of Mexicans are in favour of their countries imposing counter-tariffs on the U.S., while 18% of Canadians and 33% of Mexicans are not.

The poll is based on responses from 1,628 Canadians, 1,013 Americans and 1,003 Mexicans via Leger’s online panel and, for Mexico, an outside firm.

Data was collected between March 28 and 30 from Canadian and American respondents, and between March 26 and 31 for Mexico.

As margins of error cannot be applied to online panels, comparable sample sizes would yield one no larger than ±2.43% for Canadians, ±3.08% for Americans, and ±3.09% for Mexicans, 19 times out of 20.

bpassifiume@postmedia.com
X: @bryanpassifiume

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