The latest front in the US-Canada trade war isn’t tariffs. It’s an army of Mountie bears playing bagpipes. A new AI-made music video, “Canadian Resistance Army — Trade War,” has become the latest online expression of Canadian defiance toward US tariffs —an unlikely patriotic anthem.Released this week by the YouTuber demonflyingfox, the video depicts a furry Canadian uprising against US tariffs. Animated beavers turn a border crossing into a 10-meter-deep lake, porcupines popping tyres, grizzlies inspecting trucks, and, at one point, farmers pouring rivers of maple syrup across the road.Beavers in Mountie uniforms take up arms. Grizzly bears in combat fatigues march in formation, while moose block the roads and a truck unloads a trap of sticky maple syrup. This is the virtual “Canadian Resistance Army,” and its synthetic-sounding singer laments duties “signed by an orange hand” before the chorus arrives: “Beavers and moose won’t take it anymore.”
A video that spread far beyond YouTube
The YouTube video had drawn more than 76,000 views and 5,000 likes in a few hours. It has travelled much further across social media: a post sharing it on X had been viewed 1.3 million times, while a Facebook post had logged 1.6 million views. It’s also available on Spotify.“I stand firmly with this beaver army!” commented one YouTube user. “I think I’m Canadian now,” wrote another.
Washington answers with an eagle
Washington’s retaliation was swift. The White House sent in the bald eagle, posting a real photograph of America’s national bird pinning a Canada goose to the ice with a caption declaring that President Trump was finally ending Canada’s “free ride.”Anyone tuning in late might reasonably wonder what on earth has happened between two countries better known for peacefully sharing the world’s longest border than for setting their national mascots on one another in a meme war.
How the row escalated
The latest row began last week, when months of negotiations intended to settle a trade dispute that first erupted after Trump returned to the White House in January last year broke down acrimoniously. This time, the quarrel is nastier.Last week Washington imposed 50 per cent tariffs on £15 billion of Canadian goods. Canada has promised to retaliate dollar for dollar from September 8, with tariffs on everything from American steel and dairy products to electronics and farm machinery.Trump, accusing Canada of having “ripped off the United States for years,” has threatened more punishment yet. He has repeatedly suggested that Canada should stop being an independent country and become America’s 51st state.The US president has also turned his attention to the map, signing an executive order renaming Lake Ontario, which covers part of the border, as “Lake America” for US government purposes. He complained that Canadian officials were “nasty people.”