Nationalism is the year’s hottest merch trend
Trump's expansionist foreign policy is inspiring merch.
This story was first published on Jan. 28, 2025.
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President Donald Trump’s return to office has inspired hats north of the border while Republicans have turned his expansionist foreign policy pronouncements into shirts for fundraising. The campaign might be over, but the merch has just begun.
After Ontario Premier Doug Ford wore a “Canada Is Not For Sale” hat earlier this month in Ottawa at a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other premiers (that’s the Canadian equivalent of a U.S. governor, btw), the hat’s makers, the Ottawa-based creative consultancy Jackpine Dynamic Branding, were overwhelmed with orders. Trump’s statements about tariffs and annexation have struck a nerve with our neighbors to the north.
“Nothing is more important than the country,” Ford said during a press conference wearing the hat. “President Trump wants to devastate Canada. He wants to devastate Canada through economic sanctions and tariffs. That’s unacceptable.”
The $45 hats spell out the slogan in Times New Roman, the same font as Trump’s original “Make America Great Again” hats, and there’s also a version in French, naturally. “Le Canada n’est pas à vendre.”
Jackpine Dynamic Branding founder Liam Mooney told Reuters he was inspired to create the hats as a response to Trump’s rhetoric towards Canada and as a statement about nationalism and unity. “It’s an opportunity to bring people together from all of civil society, regardless of political persuasion,” he said. “Our sovereignty is threatened when our dignity is disrespected.”
Meanwhile, Republicans are fundraising off Trump’s second term priorities for the U.S. sphere of influence in the Americas. The National Republican Congressional Committee, or NRCC, is out with $35 tees showing a bald eagle with Trump hair relaxing on a beach chair with a beer and the words “Greetings from the Gulf of America” to celebrate Trump’s executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico.
To sell the Trump National Committee joint fundraising committee’s own $35 “Gulf of America!” tee, a recent Trump campaign fundraising email asked recipients if they “live near the Gulf of Mexico?,” followed by, “Well, now you don’t!” They’re also selling “Make Greenland Great Again” tees. No word yet on official Panama Canal merch, but a third party is selling “Make Panama Canal American Again” shirts on Amazon.
The “Canada Is Not For Sale” hat is a statement of nationalism and sovereignty, and “Gulf of America” and “Make Greenland Great Again” tees are meant to communicate much the same thing, though on offense instead of defense. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum responded to Trump earlier this month by joking North America should be renamed “América Mexicana.” She hasn’t printed it yet on sweatshirts, but at this point I wouldn’t be surprised.
Most contemporary political merch tends toward sloganeering over policy proposals (a “No Tax on Tips” decal the Trump campaign sold during the 2024 race was a rare exception). Still, it’s not as if Republicans’ new foreign-policy-themed merch is focused on, say, bringing peace to the Middle East or remaining competitive with China. What is “Gulf of America,” really, but sloganeering?
