When U.S. President Donald Trump first started talking about Canada becoming the 51st state, Halifax’s Dale Darling says she had a visceral reaction.
“I don’t understand why anyone would think that any nation would react well to, basically, talk of colonization,” she said.
Darling’s reaction was immediate. She stopped buying American products.
“It is hard to look in a neutral way at what’s going on outside our borders and I simply had such a negative reaction to it. I wasn’t prepared to support their economy,” Darling said inside Local Source Market, a Halifax store that sells local food products.
A year and a half later, her resolve is strong and she said most of her friends try to avoid buying American products.
Several Nova Scotia retailers report seeing elevated interest in buying local since trade tensions with the U.S. ramped up.
At WestSide Beer Wine Spirits, customers supported the move when American alcohol was pulled from the shelves more than a year ago, said Matt Street, WestSide’s managing director.
He said people started to explore more local options for wine, ready-to-drink cocktails, beer and spirits, and international wines and spirits.
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“We really found that people expanded what their palate was,” said Street, adding ready-to-drink cocktails were already seeing growth prior to the trade tensions, which was then accelerated because of the trade dispute.
When American alcohol went back on the shelves last December, there was — and continues to be — a demand for bourbon, but other American products aren’t selling nearly as well.
“For the most part, Canadians, I think, we have really spoken with their wallets saying that they still want to support Canadian and local and that the U.S. products are not things that they are super keen on buying in great demand,” said Street.
“There is still a little bit of demand, but not a ton.”
The NSLC, Nova Scotia’s Crown-run alcohol retailer, is seeing similar trends.
Local alcohol sales increased by 11.2 per cent, or $15.2 million, in the most recent fiscal year, which ran from April 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026. This came at a time when total beverage alcohol sales fell by 0.2 per cent.
There was double-digit sales growth in several local categories: spirits (16.6 per cent), ready-to-drink (14.9 per cent), which includes coolers and cider, and wine (14.1 per cent).
Local beer sales increased only 4.3 per cent, while overall beer sales were down 0.1 per cent.
In an email, NSLC spokesperson Terah McKinnon said that for the latest year end, U.S. products were available for sale for 17 weeks and sales totalled around $10 million.
“Most remaining U.S. inventory is in wine and spirits, and given the volume of U.S. wine on hand, it will take time to sell through it,” she wrote.
In the previous fiscal year, American product sales amounted to about $40 million for the 48 weeks they were available.
Sean Gallagher, founder of Local Source Market, said the business immediately saw more new customers when trade tensions started. This has continued to the present day.
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He believes the interest in supporting the local economy was already taking root during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We can just support each other and small economic decisions kind of make a difference and that’s what was kind of laid bare during the pandemic,” he said.
“So then when Trump came around [for the] second term and is, you know, trying to annex us and give us grief, we’re like, ‘That’s OK. We can do other things.'”
Gallagher said some of the benefits of buying local are supporting small, independent businesses that help make their communities vibrant, and cutting out middlemen from the sales process.
“This kind of anti-American sentiment and pro-Canada … sense of pride, people are now able to exercise that by just eating local, so they’re enjoying it and they keep doing it,” said Gallagher.
Nova Scotia’s governing Progressive Conservatives have introduced various incentives through an initiative called Nova Scotia Loyal to encourage people to buy local.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Department of Growth and Development said programs like farmers’ market vouchers and online discounts are introducing more people to buying local.
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The spokesperson said a 2025 survey about Nova Scotia Loyal suggests 94 per cent of Nova Scotians say they are likely to look for and choose local products in their everyday shopping.
“Overall, the data shows that the momentum behind buying local remains strong, and Nova Scotians continue to make a conscious choice to support local businesses and producers,” the spokesperson wrote.
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