Montreal, Canada – Canada experienced a tumultuous start until 2025, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announcing his days of resignation in the new year, a federal election looming and the country’s affordability crisis.
Now Canada faces What some economists have nicknamed “its greatest commercial shock in almost 100 years”.
US President Donald Trump threatened to impose 25% tariffs on a wide range of Canadian imports and 10% Canadian energy rates.
While the measures were to start on Tuesday, Trudeau said on Monday afternoon that the American prices and the reprisal measures announced by his government would be delayed by “at least 30 days” while countries work together on border security.
However, for many across the country, the potential of a trade war between the long -standing allies continues to fuel a feeling of anger, as well as anxiety and confusion over what will happen.
Trump’s threat of prices has also raised questions about the nature of the cross-border relationship and prompted calls to Canada to stimulate trade in the country while looking beyond the United States for more reliable international partners.
“It is very, very worrying at the moment for workers,” said Lana Payne, the National Coordinator of Unifor, the largest union in Canada in Al Jazeera before the announcement of the tariff delay.
“Lots of concern, a lot of concern, a lot of uncertainty-they feel it all,” she said during a telephone interview on Monday.
“But I would also say … They feel angry at the moment that the United States would do this to the Canadian economy, would do it to Canadian workers, given our long history of work together.”
Canada-Us
The United States and Canada enjoy close political and commercial ties for decades.
Last year, the United States exported more than $ 322 million in goods to Canada, according to American census data. He also imported more than $ 377 million in northern neighbor’s products.
Almost three-quarters of Canada’s total commercial exports go to the United States. The country is also the largest foreign energy supplier in the United States, with around 97% of Canadian crude oil exports going south of the border in 2023.
But Trump, who systematically criticized Canada since his re -election in November, said Prices are necessary to push the Canadian government to stop fentanyl traffic and irregular migration through its border with the United States.
He also argued that prices seek to compensate for a trade deficit with Canada, that he nicknamed a “grant”.
“We pay hundreds of billions of dollars to subsidize Canada. For what? There is no reason. We don’t need anything they have. We have unlimited energy, should make our own cars and have more wood that we can never use, ”recently wrote the American president on social networks.
Trudeau retaliated, announcing reprisal prices against around $ 106 billion ($ 155 billion Canadian dollars) of American goods on Saturday. From this, around $ 20 billion ($ 30 billion Canadian dollars) were to be taxed on Tuesday.
“We will stay strong for Canada. We will be solid to make sure that our countries continue to be the best neighbors in the world, ”said Trudeau.
But on Monday afternoon, the Canadian Prime Minister announced that the prices offered would be interrupted “for at least 30 days” after having a “good call” with Trump.
Canada will be “Name a fentanyl tsar, we list the cartels as terrorists, will provide 24/7 eyes on the border, launching a joint strike force from Canada-US to fight organized crime, fentanyl and money laundering “, Among other measures, Trudeau said.
I just had a good call with President Trump. Canada is implementing our $ 1.3 billion border plan – strengthening the border with new helicopters, technologies and staff, improved coordination with our American partners and an increase in resources to stop the fentanyl flow. Almost…
– Justin Trudeau (@justintrudeau) February 3, 2025
“ Submitted to the whims of Trump ‘
Asa McKercher, professor at St Francis Xavier University who studies Canada-US relations, said the two countries had experienced tensions in the past.
He underlined the tensions on Canada’s refusal to join the invasion of Iraq led by the United States in 2003 and personal animosities between former American president John F Kennedy and Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbaker at the start of the 1960s.
But McKercher said that current trade tensions have plunged the relationship with its lowest point.
“We have not really seen the Americans doing everything possible to impose a policy that will simply destroy the Canadian economy. This is the difference here, ”McKercher told Al Jazeera.
He said that Trump has signed the order authorizing the prices against Canada and Trudeau has unveiled reciprocal measures, there has been an increase in nationalist feeling in Canada.
Canadian crowds hooked the American national anthem to Hockey and basketball matches During the weekend, while the leaders of several provinces urged people to “buy Canadian” in response to prices.
“Some people react in the sole way they can, which has the American hockey teams and does not buy Kellogg cereals because it is made in America,” he said.
For the average person, said Mckercher, these “small acts of challenge” offer a “agency feeling” in a situation where they could otherwise feel helpless.
“We are really subject to the whims of a guy to the White House, and that is a very frightening thing.”
Confusion and uncertainty
In a small fruit and vegetable store in Montreal on Monday morning, buyers Patricia and Lorraine were looking for a lawyer – but they had to make sure it was not from the United States.
“It creates a lot of anxiety for everyone, I think,” said Patricia, who did not give Al Jazeera his first name, about imminent prices. “Even the atmosphere in general: prices will increase, it will change our pace of life.”
“We have to boycott [US products]. We have to do so, “said Lorraine while the pair left the shop.
“We have no choice,” added Patricia.
The owner of the shop, Amine Mulhim, said he was waiting to see how potential rates would affect his business. He told Al Jazeera that he is already sold largely local products, but during the winter months, more of the products comes from the United States and Mexico.
“Already, everything is expensive,” he said.
A few houses, in a provincial alcohol store, the Angelo Baaco client added wines to a small basket. The Quebec government said That American alcohol will be removed from the shelves on Tuesday.
“It’s just things that I will not be able to get in the coming months, or who knows how long. So I said to myself, “OK, could as well get this,” said Baaco, looking for a red wine from California. “I’m going to take another, just in case.”
However, the threat of prolonged trade war goes beyond daily purchases. For many Canadians – including those who live in poverty and homelessness – the prospect could worsen an already difficult economic situation.

Georges Ohana – Director of prevention of homelessness at the old Brewery mission, a support and advocacy organization in Montreal – said that his greatest concern was a potential loss of jobs following American prices.
“This can worsen what has already been a very difficult start of the year in terms of inflation,” he told Al Jazeera.
Ohana has already said that there had been an increase in demand for food banks and shelter beds in recent years in Montreal. Rental costs in the city also skyrocketed, which makes affordable housing more difficult to find.
“When you aggravate these different systems, it is more difficult for homeless men and women, vulnerable people, people who have trauma, to be able to obtain the necessary help they need,” he declared.
But, Ohana added: “I don’t think we should draw conclusions [on tariffs]. I think we should wait to see how it happens.
‘Not the actions of an ally’
Even if Canada seems to have been suspended from American prices – at least for the moment – many Canadians have expressed their anger against Trump’s repeated threats to their country.
Last week, political leaders, Labor and civil society released The “promise of Canada” to build a national response to the Trump administration policies.
This includes the protection of Canadian sovereignty, the reduction of “country dependence on the United States by diversifying our profession” and by building alliances with other countries, especially on climate action, the humanitarian aid and democracy.
“It becomes very clear that to strengthen Canada’s resilience in this increasingly turbulent world, this really means reducing our dependence to our southern neighbor,” said the legislator Charlie Angus of the New Democratic Party press conference announcing the campaign.
According to Payne at Unifor, a threat of prices – which Canada has known for weeks since Trump has made his plan known in November for the first time – remains in itself.
“This means that the industry stops on investments. This leads the industry to divert investments to the United States. This leads the industry to cancel investments because the prices make it more expensive for them to work, “she said.
But she said that Trump’s pricing threat has also created an understanding in Canada that the country should examine all of its economic and commercial policies, including supply processes, infrastructure projects and natural resources development.
“All this is on the table in a way that it has not been on the table for a very long time,” she told Al Jazeera.
“There is a great appetite for that at the moment because there is a meaning … that we no longer have a friend of the way we think we did it and a stable trading partner”, added Payne.
“We have a president who tears the trade agreements. We have a president who threatens us daily with measures that would put our economy in a recession. These are not the actions of an ally. »»