MONTREAL, Canada – Even before he officially re-entered the White House last month to begin his second term as US president, Donald Trump repeatedly aimed at Canada, a target.
Trump claimed that his country’s northern neighbors had failed to stop irregular migration and drug trafficking at the US border, and he threatened to impose sudden tariffs on Canadian imports.
To stem these measures that experts say will devastate the Canadian economy, Republican leaders have presented ideas: Canada could and should be the 51st state in the United States.
“I think Canada is much better because it’s the 51st state,” the US president continued in an interview with Fox News that aired over the weekend, continuing his first increased pressure campaign in December.
The proposal was widely criticised, but Trump’s comments – and his continued threat to tariffs of over 25% on Canadian goods, including imports of steel and aluminum, has been a result of unions and politicians across Canada. , confuses ordinary people.
The call for a boycott of American products and a halt trip to the US has gained steam along with a nationalist push to rethink Canada’s long-standing dependence on Canadian cross-border trade.
Leaders of major Canadian political parties, as well as local and territorial prime ministers, have committed even more harsh rhetoric against the country’s top international allies, pledging to defend Canada’s economic interests and sovereignty. I’m using it.
“To say it’s a unique moment is an understatement,” said Shachi Carl, president of the Angus Reed Institute, an independent Canadian research firm.
The current mood in Canada is one of anxiety and anxiety on the one hand, while there is rebellion and anger on the other, Carl explained.
For many, “Canada hasn’t chosen this fight, but if they take the punch, they’ll try to give it right away,” she said.
“Trump effect”
Trump’s repeated threats to Canada come at the moment already politically charged.
The country has held a crisis of affordability for years, with rising grocery prices and housing costs fostering an increasingly angry rhetoric against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Earlier this year, Trudeau announced plans to resign once his governing liberals choose to become a successor. A new leader and prime minister will be selected in early March to close a decade of Ottawa’s Trudeau-led government.
The country is also preparing for a federal election that must be held by late October.
But contrary to that background, Trump’s rhetoric and proposals have become the top political issue in Canada, says Daniel, a professor at McGill University in Montreal and director of the McGill Institute for Canadian Studies. Verand said.
“The most important factor in Canadian politics today is not living in Canada. It’s Donald Trump,” Beland told Al Jazeera.
Dubbed “Trump Effect,” Professor said in the next Canadian elections, “Voting Questions” are the best political parties and leaders to handle the relationship between the US president and Canada and the US, what political parties and leaders are He said that it may be the best option for those.
It could effectively change races, Verand said.
“The national crisis caused by Trump may actually change the agenda and perhaps change what the country thinks it needs at this point and the perception of the leaders they want.”
Politicians take advantage of the waves of patriotism
In fact, one poll suggests that the Trump administration could be one of the factors that change Canadians’ plans to vote in future elections.
The opposition Conservatives enjoyed a double-digit lead leading the unpopular Trudeau-led liberals until fairly recently.
But the dial appears to be changing as the prime minister who shepherds Canada through Trump’s tariff threats and the liberal leadership race for the party has increased interest.
A recent legger marketing survey said Tory’s lead against liberals has been reduced to 9% points.
In the same poll, conservative leader Pierre Polyavel and former Canadian governor Mark Carney are the frontline governors to take over as the next liberal leader, and Canadians are the most popular It turns out to be neck and neck in that we believe we can handle it well.
22% of respondents said Poilievre was a preferred choice to manage Canadian-US relations, compared to 20% who chose Carney.
Polyebre described himself as having a difficult position as the Conservative base segment prefers Trump and his policies. Others hope that conservative leaders will stand up to Trump’s intensity.
Daniel Smith, the right-wing prime minister of Canada’s oil-rich Alberta, is one of those who took a more reconciliatory approach to Trump. She refused to discuss the imposition of retaliatory tariffs on Canadian energy exports to the United States.
“Daniel Smith is Canada’s leading conservative figure and she has a soft approach to Trump. [Poilievre] He tries to be bold and not alienate his base. It’s not easy for him to navigate,” Verand said.
Meanwhile, post-poll polls show Canadians overwhelmingly reject Trump’s push to make Canada the 51st province. Support for sovereignty is also increasing nationwide than trade and infrastructure.
“In the beginning, Canadians were somewhat confused,” Karl told Al Jazeera in an email after Trump’s comments about taking over Canada.
But now, “The repetition of Trump’s annexation plan, combined with all the tariffs, has led Canadians to a more demanding place.”
A recent Angus Reed analysis found that the percentage of Canadians said they were “very proud” of their country between December and February.
The proportion of people who said they wanted Canada to join the US also fell to 6-4%. “Almost every politician in every political stripe depicts that patriotic sentiment,” Carl said.
“I’m always thinking about us.”
This includes Doug Ford, right-wing prime minister of Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, and is holding local elections later this month.
Ford pushed back the central pillar of his reelection campaign against Trump’s tariffs.
He and other leaders of all Canadian provinces and territories traveled to Washington, D.C. on Wednesday to defend their interests and promoted trade relations between Canada and the United States. “This is the first time that a 13-person premier has appeared in Washington,” Ford told reporters.
“We are their biggest trading partner,” he said of the United States. Canadian government figures show that imports and exports of goods between the two countries totaled more than $700 million (over $1 trillion over Canadian dollars) last year.
“We are their number one customer. I’m not too sure if they fully understand the impact. [of tariffs] On both sides of the border,” Ford added.
This is the same message Trudeau and his government have been promoting since they threatened to slap tariffs in Canada shortly after they won reelection last November.
The country got a reprieve last week when the US president agreed to suspend a 25% tariff on Canadian oil for 30 days until early March.
However, the threat remains looming, and the new US push to impose tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports on March 12th has fueled new concerns.
“Regardless of what the US is moving forward, it’s important to understand that Canada will respond in a calibrated but very powerful way as needed,” Trudeau said on Wednesday in Belgium’s He told reporters when he visited Brussels.
No matter what happens, McGill University’s Beland said it’s clear that Canadian politics will be heavily affected by Trump and his administration in weeks and months.
“Most Americans don’t think much about Canada,” he told Al Jazeera.
“But now Canadians are thinking [the US] I’m always tired of it, but there aren’t many options. ”
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