Canadians are standing in solidarity with their leader following President Donald Trump's behavior at last week's G-7 summit.
President Trump had blamed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for his decision not to sign a joint communiqué with other members of the G-7. The move followed Trudeau's announcement that he would impose retaliatory tariffs on U.S. imports because Trump imposed tariffs of 25 and 10 percent on aluminum and steel from Canada and other countries.
Trump later slammed Trudeau as "dishonest" and "weak."
Canadians have responded by boycotting U.S. products and canceling their planned vacations to the U.S. Many took to Twitter, launching the hashtag #BuyCanadian to express their support for Canadian goods.
"If it says 'made in the U.S.A., put it back'" reads one meme displaying a prominent Canadian flag.
Responses have been passionate across the board, with people even sharing information about websites that tell Canadians which services and products available in their country are American-made, allowing them to enforce their boycott efficiently.
One Twitter user opened an account called "Oh Canada #BuyCanadian" is also working to spread the message.
Buying Canadian "is the best way" for Canada "to move forward," they wrote.
The individual running the account also highlighted a famous quote from former U.S. President John F. Kennedy, a "real" president who famously implored Americans to "ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."
The hashtag #trumpfree has also been making the rounds, and "Making the refrigerator great again."
Canada is Washington’s second largest trading partner after China. It accounted for an estimated $673.9 billion in trade and services last year. The Department of Commerce reports that U.S. exports of goods and services to Canada supported an estimated 1.6 million jobs in 2015.
Trump's attacks against Trudeau were just a snippet from one of the strangest weeks of diplomacy in recent memory. Canada had earlier rejected Trump's call to bring Russia back into the G-7.
Russia was removed from the summit in 2014 after it invaded Crimea over its support for pro-Russia separatists in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin, for his part, appears to agree with Trump that Russia should be readmitted.
“Russia was invited to be part of this club and I think that was a very wise initiation, and an invitation full of goodwill,” Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters at the summit. “Russia, however, made clear that it had no interest in behaving according to the rules of Western democracies.”
Freeland’s statements echo remarks made by Stephen Harper, the former prime minister, in 2015, when he said that Russia should never be allowed back into the summit as long as Vladimir Putin is in power.
“Canada would very, very strongly oppose Putin ever sitting around that table again. It would require consensus to bring Russia back and that consensus will just not happen,” he said at the time. “Russia is more often than not trying deliberately to be a strategic rival, to deliberately counter the good things we’re trying to achieve in the world for no other reason than to just counter them.”
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