Éric Blais is president of Headspace Marketing in Toronto, a marketing communications firm helping clients build their brands in Québec.
When U.S. President Donald Trump aimed at Canada, the instinctive response from our political class was to reach for the economic equivalent of a national pep rally.
The message was to close ranks, defend our sovereignty with our wallets by buying Canadian, support our producers, and show the Americans we won't be pushed around.
However, something far more significant happened this week, and it didn't come from Ottawa. It came from Costco.
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The beloved American retailer just defended its own and Canada's economic interests forcefully.
Canadians should pay attention.
The U.S.-based retailer -- which, in an irony not to be overlooked, has become one of the most trusted institutions in this country -- filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of International Trade challenging the legality of Trump's emergency tariffs.
And it didn't do it with grandstanding or theatrics. Its complaint is calm, methodical, and devastatingly clear: Trump's tariffs are unlawful, economically reckless, and imposed under emergency powers that courts have already said don't apply.
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And Costco's argument is not timid.
In one especially pointed passage, the suit notes that if Congress ever intended to delegate tariff-setting authority to a president, it would have needed to provide an "intelligible principle" to guide and limit that power. It didn't.
And the proof, Costco argues, is the "pell-mell manner" in which these on-again, off-again tariffs have been "threatened, modified, suspended, and re-imposed, with the markets gyrating in response."
Earlier this year, Léger released its annual reputation survey ranking the most admired companies in the country. Costco was the No. 1 most admired retailer in Canada across more than 300 companies in 30 sectors.
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It's the result of a long-standing, quasi-affectionate relationship Canadians have developed with a foreign-owned warehouse chain that sells everything from bulk laundry detergent to diamond rings.
Costco delivers something essential to the Canadian psyche: predictability, value, fairness, and a price-to-quality ratio that feels almost moral in an age of shrinkflation and sticker shock.
And when tariffs hit shelves earlier this year, some Canadian retailers responded by quietly flagging tariff-affected products. Loblaws and Shoppers Drug Mart added a discreet "T" on shelf labels -- a subtle gesture meant to say, "Prices are rising, but it's not us." It was transparency, yes, but also a shrug. A recognition of political forces beyond their control.
Costco is taking a different approach by challenging the government responsible for the tariffs in court. Not as activism, but as brand behaviour. Costco's identity has always been rooted in stability and fairness. It cannot function in a landscape shaped by improvisational trade policy and "emergency" powers deployed like marketing slogans.
And here's the real twist: While Canadians are being urged to 'Buy Canadian' as a patriotic counterpunch, a U.S.-owned retailer is the one defending predictable trade rules, lawful governance, and economic stability.
Costco isn't trying to be a national hero. It doesn't need to. It has already become the place Canadians go not just to save money, but to feel like someone, somewhere, is still taking value seriously.
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So here's the opportunity.
If we want more U.S.-based companies operating in Canada to show this kind of backbone and to stand up for rules-based trade instead of ducking for cover, then the companies that do so should see a benefit. Not through flag-waving or political slogans, but through loyalty.
Corporate behaviour responds to incentives. When a retailer pushes back against political overreach, especially from a president known for punishing dissent, consumers should be willing to say: this matters. We notice when a company defends transparency and predictability. Values that ultimately protect Canadian consumers too.
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In a perfect world, we wouldn't rely on retailers to steady the geopolitical turbulence swirling around us. But in this moment, Costco has done something rare: it stood up. Calmly. Respectfully. Persuasively.
And Canadians should notice.
Because the marketplace could use more courage.
And Costco, astonishingly, but not surprisingly, just showed us what that looks like.