Trump’s Tariffs: Canada Comes Up With A Unique Swadeshi Movement Response
In a unique stroke of coincidence, on March 4, 2025, the date on which the Donald Trump 2.0 regime in the United States of America (USA) is scheduled to start imposing the already proclaimed tariffs on Canadian goods, a civic resistance movement broadly based on Mahatma Gandhi’s Swadeshi movement is also gathering momentum among the people of Canada. The coincidence is striking because it was on March 4, 1929 that Gandhiji was arrested following his call for a Swadeshi movement against the British Raj in India. The call was raised as part of India’s freedom struggle. This self- sustainability call led to the burning of foreign clothes by the freedom fighters across British India.
President Trump just confirmed that the 25% tariff on Mexican and Canadian products will start TOMORROW. pic.twitter.com/humCnv0whL
— George (@BehizyTweets) March 3, 2025
Today, as The Buy Canadian campaign picks up, Canadian people in vast numbers are recalling the history of Mahatma Gandhi’s satyagraha. Canada has a sizable population of people of Indian origin, who will be happy to support the domestic industry under the current circumstances. Their perspective on Swadeshi comes in handy to strengthen the local economy over American business interests. Already, people have started canceling plans to travel south of the border.
It’s ironic that in his previous term, US President Donald Trump visited the cremation site of Gandhi and his home in Gujarat. And yet, as part of his xenophobic agenda, he is not only creating divisions and barriers for immigrants, but has started deporting Indians and people of other nationalities. Indians who live in Canada therefore have strong reasons to stand shoulder to shoulder with other Canadians and boycott American goods and services.
That said, there are also steady warnings from the grassroots that the growing patriotism shouldn’t be used as a tool by the people in power in Canada to pursue controversial projects based on resource industries, which are detrimental to the environment as well as to Indigenous rights. Some Canadian politicians and big corporate groups have started a campaign to fast track the work on gas pipelines, to trade with countries other than the US, overlooking the long term consequences on climate and the First Nations. Civil Rights activists point out that this cannot be permitted in the name of nationalism, which has become a refuge of big business.
Calls are growing from politicians and businesses for consumers to fight back against the tariffs with the dollars they spend.
My story on the push to buy Canadian and how it’s already gaining momentum. pic.twitter.com/3EeTknYL8F
— Kwabena Oduro (@Kwabz9) February 3, 2025
Notably, Gandhi’s swadeshi initiative was not limited to the boycott of British business, but was also linked to the encouragement of the Indian cottage industry so that the people living in villages and remote communities could become self-reliant. The historical view of the Swadeshi movement led by Gandhiji, it is pointed out, is compatible with the worldview of the Canadian Indigenous peoples who are the true custodians and stewards of the country’s lands and environment.
The informed debate that has come up along with The Buy Canadian campaign, does certainly reinforce its position as a new age Swadeshi movement with Canadian characteristics. The campaign has just started even as people across the globe are keenly watching the direction it will take and the results it would ultimately create.
