A few hours after President Donald Trump announced the imposition of heavy tariffs to Canada, fans booed the US national anthem during a game against an American team in the National Hockey League.
On Sunday (2), the same happened during a basketball match between Toronto Raptors and Los Angeles Clippers. The boos were heard throughout the anthem – and almost drown out the performance of the 15 -year -old who chanted the song.
The vocal discontent of generally respectful fans is a clear sign of the Canadian’s deep dismay with Trump’s decision to reach his closest ally with punitive taxes, which threaten to trigger an unprecedented trade war on the US continent.
25% tariffs imposed by Trump on all Canadian imports on the US-with a rate less than 10% on energy-are expected to take effect on Tuesday (4).
And they are valid at a time when the US President redoubles the pressure – which is no longer seen as a joke or a campaign speech – for Canada to join the US and become the 51st American state.
While many economists project that tariffs will also increase costs for Americans in essential items of everyday life, from gasoline to groceries, Canada is the commercial partner most vulnerable to Trump’s actions.
If they last months, the country can enter a painful economic recession.
Anger is growing – and with her, a desire to cover a struggle that was echoed by political leaders in the country of 40 million inhabitants.
“Many among us will be affected by this, and we will have some difficult times. I ask them to be there, each other,” said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Saturday night (1st).
“Now it’s time to choose Canada,” he added.
Some Canadians have already answered the appeals for solidarity.
On social networks, guides circulated on how to avoid products made in the United States.
A local supermarket in Toronto began to label the Canadian yogurt to buyers, according to an image published in X (The Old Twitter) by the doctor Iris Gorfinkel, who lives in Toronto.
Others have stated that they will cancel travel plans to the US or stop visiting the country definitively.
“Yesterday, in response to Trump’s tariffs, we canceled our family vacation trip to the US, which we would do in March,” wrote Canadian writer Seth Klein at Bluesky.
“We took a small damage to the cancellation of the train tickets, but that needed to be done.”
In some Canadian provinces-the largest, the largest in population-the American drinks will be removed from the shelves indefinitely from Tuesday.
This adds to a total of $ 105 billion ($ 613 billion) of American products that Canada said it will target retaliation.
The list includes vegetables, clothing, sports equipment, perfumes and other items.
Products from Republican -led states – as Florida’s orange juice – were chosen as targets.
The US imports more oil from Canada than any other country, and the Trudeau government has signaled that “all options remain on the table” for more retaliation in the future.
A ‘destabilizing’ moment for Canada
Trump’s decision to make the threat of high tariffs – which have been speculated for a long time as a trading tactic to obtain border safety concessions – confused the Canadians, who have enjoyed the narrow economic, social and security ties with the US During the last decades.
“It’s a shock,” Michael Ignatieff, former leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, told BBC News.
“We are in a new world where the question of whether you can trust the US becomes a key point in the foreign policy of all countries.”
Pierre Poilievre, leader of the conservative party, who is in the opposition, called the American tariffs “massive, unjust and unjustified.”
“Canada is the nearest neighbor to the United States, his greatest ally and best friend,” he said, noting that Canada fought alongside the US in two world wars, as well as in the wars of Korea and Afghanistan.
“There is no justification for this treatment,” he protested.
During a speech on Saturday, Prime Minister Trudeau asked why the US would target Canada instead of looking at “more challenging parts” in the world.
An excerpt from his speech was directly addressed to the Americans – and he also drew attention to the history of shared blood spill.
“We fought and die with you,” said Trudeau.
Thomas Juneau, National Security Professor at the University of Ottawa, told the BBC that Trump’s fares “undoubtedly represent an earthquake in Canada-It-Home relations.”
“This is extremely destabilizing for Canada,” says Juneau.
“As a country, we benefit greatly from our extremely close partnership with trade and security with the US for decades.”
Although the commercial battle probably forces Canada to look for partners elsewhere, there is no way to escape geography, the expert adds.
According to him, the country will continue to depend on the economic superpower that lives next door.
“This is why Canada should now focus on saving this relationship as much as possible,” suggests Juneau.
A hazy and expensive fight ahead
The great unknown is how long the US will keep the rates in force – and what measures Canada can take to appease the Trump administration, which said it expects actions on Fentanil’s transionic trafficking and illegal immigration.
TD Economics consultancy projects that the longer the tariffs remain in force, the worse will be impact.
Canada can recession in five to six months, and the unemployment rate in the country can reach more than 7%.
Theo Argitis, managing director of the Compass Rose Group Public Relations company, based in Ottawa, understands that the unknowns have not left the Canada “to retaliate (Trump) with force.”
“In the end, we don’t really know why Trump is doing it,” says Argitis to the BBC.
The US president says that the flow of fentanil – a highly powerful and deadly drug – to the US from Canada and Mexico is one of the main reasons behind the decision.
US officials say rates will remain in force “until the crisis is relieved.”
In response, the Canadian government noted that less than 1% of fentanil and illegal border crossings for the US come from Canada.
The government also offered spending another $ 1.3 billion Canadian (R $ 5.17 billion in the current price) to protect the border between countries.
But Trump also spoke publicly about frustration with the commercial deficit between Canada and the US and, more widely, about his view that tariffs can be a source of revenue for Washington coffers.
On Sunday (2), he wrote on the Truth Social network that the US does not need Canadian products and said the US pay “hundreds of billions of dollars to subsidize Canada.”
“Without this massive subsidy, Canada ceases to exist as a viable country,” Trump wrote, before repeating his view that the North neighbor should become a US state.
He warned that the White House will promulgate more severe penalties to Canada if the country decides to retaliate.
For now, Canada chose to try to inflict some pain selectively to its most powerful neighbor, even if the economic balance is against the country.
“We prefer to solve our disputes with diplomacy,” Trudeau said on Saturday. “But we are ready to fight when necessary.
