Some Donald Trump fans stopped to take photos of an unexpected sight during their inauguration jaunt through downtown Washington, DC.
“Canada congratulates Donald Trump,” one exclaimed Sunday, reading the sign atop the Canadian embassy flanked by huge maple-leaf flags on Pennsylvania Avenue.
“You think Justin Trudeau is up there?”
No, the Prime Minister was not there. But more than 1,500 people could actually be present on Monday at the quadrennial celebration of the inauguration of Canada.
This year’s event is strange.
The absence of a parade on Pennsylvania Avenue due to bad weather is not the only reason why this celebration will be atypical.
This is the first time since the Canadian Embassy open to the location of your choice by Capitol Hill in 1989 that there are no official festivities to attend live from its traditional holiday.
Another oddity: Revelers will spend the entire day impatiently awaiting a series of potentially damaging executive orders threatened by the star of the day, Trump.
It’s like throwing a party and wondering if you’re on the menu.
There are myriad rumors about what economic sanctions Trump might impose: a small tariff? A big price with loopholes? A temporary rate? A process to possibly impose tariffs? Or will he carry out his most serious threat: imposing full 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico.
Canada’s ambassador to the United States said she expected some sort of trade sanction from Trump – but the exact form is unclear.
“I hesitate to say it’s ‘almost certain,’ but most people I talk to think there is some version of tariff action that will be proposed,” Kirsten Hillman told CBC News in a recent interview.
“Whether it’s our fault or the fault of others… I don’t know. I hope they’re all wrong. But I think we have to be ready for that.”
Donald Trump will be the first US president to take the oath of office inside the Capitol rather than outside since Ronald Reagan in 1985. Extreme cold forced the event indoors for the first time in 40 years.
Prices, an afterthought in the speech
Trump’s team briefed his Republican allies on Capitol Hill on Sunday about the numerous executive orders coming the next day, and it’s unclear exactly where the trade fits.
A handle from the American press reports Monday’s plans didn’t work mention prices. Trump only referred to the tariffs in passing during a speech Sunday.
At a gathering on the eve of the inauguration, he spoke at length about other first-day plans. He talked about aggressive expulsions and historic border actions, and spent more time on gender ideology than trade.
He inserted a reference right at the end, just before the Village People closed his rally with a celebratory rendition of YMCA.
“In conclusion,” Trump said, adding promises to cut taxes, end inflation, raise wages and restore thousands of U.S. factories through tariffs and other policies.
That was all. And now the continent waits.
Trump’s return is a truly historic moment for Canada-U.S. relations, said Asa McKercher, a researcher at St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia who studies cross-border relations.
The new president is threatening to take the most hostile trade measures this continent has seen in more than 90 years, since the Great Depression, with the famous Smoot-Hawley tariff, he said.
These 1930 tariffs hampered Canadian exports: they hit different products at different rates, but on average about 20 percent dots and destroyed most Canadian exports of wool, livestock and flaxseed to the United States
Trump is also the first major American politician in almost 115 years old make jokes, even semi-serious ones, about the United States annexes Canadasaid McKercher, Steven K. Hudson Research Chair in Canada-U.S. Relations at StFX’s Brian Mulroney Institute of Government.
“Donald Trump is sort of a throwback to a century ago,” he said. “It’s a return to the future, I guess.”
In another way, Trump marks an even sharper break with history, McKercher said, in his gleeful willingness to lash out at friendly nations. “It’s sort of unprecedented for a president to so willingly give the middle finger to his allies,” he said.
Business leader calls for caution
A Canadian business leader said he is doing his best to focus on what is within Canada’s control, not what is beyond its control.
“I didn’t spend time worrying about what, where, when, why [Trump’s tariffs will hit]” said Goldy Hyder, President and CEO of the Business Council of Canada.
“It’s just a better way to sleep every night.”
What Canada can in fact control, he says, is the strengthening of its own economic policies to create leverage with Trump, in particular by better developing its mining and energy resources.
Hyder also warns Ottawa to be extra careful before launching retaliatory actions that could worsen domestic damage; like, for example, Canadian threats to impose an export tax on energy products, which Canada Also concerning-imports from the United States
“The last thing you want is for our actions to have a boomerang effect on Canada,” he said in an interview Sunday as he traveled to Washington for the inauguration.
We might find out on Monday if there’s anything we could retaliate against.
Meanwhile, guests will gather for a party at the Canadian Embassy, as they have done at every inauguration since 1989.
Guests include provincial leaders, federal cabinet members and a number of American politicians and business groups, all invited to enjoy snacks including beaver tails.
The embassy did not reveal the cost of the deal but said it was offset by a number of corporate sponsors.
Proceeding with the event is in the national interest and it is the right thing to do, regardless of the unusual threats facing the continent, McKercher said.
“It’s a little weird,” he said of the circumstances surrounding the party. “But diplomats kind of live in a strange world.”
