I’m here in Columbus, Ohio doing my annual gig with the Physcians’ Leadership Academy. Every year I get to run a half day complexity workshop for local physicians. It’s a fun gig and gets me a chance to see friends in this region and make a stop in Toronto on the way.
Today was a weird day to cross the border though. For the past month, and especially the past weekend, the conversation that almost everybody in Canada is having is about the US tariffs that came into effect at 12:01 this morning. Blanket 25% tariffs on everything that crosses the Canada-US border. The US tariffs instantly triggered a trade war and Canada retaliated with about two thirds of a full tariff schedule which will rise to 25% retaliatory tariffs on about 1200 US products. It’s anyone’s guess whether this is a permanent state of affairs or not. The tariffs were imposed – under dubious legal authority it must be said – through a Presidential executive order which is nearly unheard of in US governance. It is usually Congress that does these things, but the President has the power to impose tariffs for national security reasons if these are the result of a declaration of a national emergency. Donald Trump made 23 pounds of fentanyl and some unknown number of migrants crossing from Canada to the US into the national emergency that has allowed him to by-pass Congress and impose tariffs, and threaten the future of our country.
So naturally in Canada, everybody has been talking about this. It is the single topic of conversation. American liquor is being romped from store shelves. “Buy Canadian” website have popped up everywhere. Premiers are talking about cutting of electricity to millions of Americans. And while we have had trade spats with the USA in the past, Trump has also signalled his intention to annex Canada, if not militarily then certainly economically. You just have to watch what he is doing to Ukraine to see what the plan is.
But the moment you cross the border, nothing. No one is talking about this. Very few people even really know about it. A few might have seen Justin Trudeau or Doug Ford on CNN today but hardly anyone has any context for what they are saying or how it might affect them.
So it’s a bit like those weather moments when it’s pouring rain on your side of the street, but your neighbours are in full sunshine, enjoying the afternoon. I don’t blame Americans for this state of affairs. Unless you follow politics closely and these kinds of things interest you, your average Ohioan is probably not giving more than a few minutes thought to this. The President is giving a State of the Union address tonight, so it’s unlikely that any of the protestations from north of the border will show up in the news cycle.
This is a feature of North American society, by the way. Americans are no more ignorant or apathetic than Canadians when it comes too politics, economics or global trade. I mean, Doug Ford got elected to a four year majority mandate in Ontario with only 19% of the electorate voting for him. There is, however, an asymmetry to this situation that leaves us booing at the US national anthem being played in our hockey and soccer arenas in response to naked threats against our sovereignty, while Americans wonder what bee got into our bonnet.
Now my friends and colleagues here know I’m Canadian, and so our conversations are sprinkled with a bit of humour and maybe some teasing back and forth, but while I love banter generally, my heart isn’t in it. The existential threat is the thing that keeps it serious. And most of my friends here are either solidly progressive or at least thoughtfully conservative and hardly anyone thinks picking a trade fight with Canada or Mexico is a good idea. Still, the words I hear most out of their mouths are “I’m so sorry.” Despite what you read on social media, most Americans are not red-hatted MAGA dupes running around yelling nonsense into the void. Life just seems to go on.
It’s just that, for us, it feels like life has changed quite profoundly. we are certainly facing a recession, we may be facing many years of recession that leaves us economically vulnerable to annexation and it’s unclear if anyone in the US or elsewhere really cares about that. I don’t know what the future holds holds for us. So we wait, because there isn’t anything else to do right now. We are in the dumbest of times and they don;t look to be getting any smarter.
It’s depressing to be an ‘oldster’ at this time in history, because I am literally afraid that my life will end before things improve.
? ? ? my friend.
There’s a lot surreal at the moment…
Thank you for this image on this day we March fourth.
oops. The question marks were supposed to be heart emotis.
love and deep breaths with you <3 <3 <3
I live in Oregon and I can say that for us it feels like life has changed too. we are profoundly embarrassed by Trump and Vance, this week both because of tariffs and the Oval Office disgrace regarding Ukraine. Vance was run out of his ski vacation in Vermont by wonderful protesters. Today there were protests in all 50 states—several happened in Oregon. In my little community we are gathering on a bridge every Friday night at 6 PM to protest, who knows for how long. My sign this week says, “Tax Elon, Not Canada.” We know this is not fair, and it is painful to watch our country betray its allies. So many apologies.
This is the time, I say, for us to deepen our practice beyond boundaries-to share the complexity and need for creative, truth-telling. No Bystander! You opened the dialogue Chris…
My impression is that even very progressive Americans are not particularly focused on the situation with Canada right now. Not because people don’t care about our neighbors to the north, but because everyone is thoroughly overwhelmed. Ballotpedia says as of yesterday, 82 executive orders, 13 proclamations, and 21 memoranda have been signed in this term. Every single one of them is awful, many of them are very big and require thousands of people spending enormous energy to organize resistance and responses ranging from protesting in the streets to filing lawsuits to more creative endeavors. It is impossible to keep up, which is obviously part of the playbook being followed.
So while for Canadians (& Ukrainians), that one aspect of American policy change has huge impact and is necessarily where one’s attention goes and what everyone is talking about, for Americans it’s “everything everywhere all at once.” Tonight i joined the local 350 chapter to write and send comments contesting proposed amendments to the northwest forest plan on national forest lands that would increase clearcut logging, because the deadline is soon and i respect the people organizing the event. Tomorrow it’ll be something else, and it’s an exhausting and scary period. One of the topics being debated here among friends is whether elections will be held again in the future–people are seriously very worried about the road currently being traveled.
So i’d say it feels like life here has been profoundly changed as well, though that’s in my circles and not as fully among the mainstream. Yet on some level people have no choice but to carry on so they do, meanwhile everyone is trying to figure out what is within their personal scope of action and response.
Yes this. This weird gap of understanding and empathy and connection is everywhere not just across the border but among the borders of those actively resisting and those plugging along trying to survive within the US. Yes. You can’t do it all at once and Canada Åsa country is resisting on a macro scale with reciprocal tariffs, some of it are targeted to hit very specific sectors and regions of the US. It is a bit like watching dragons fighting.
Meanwhile, back at home, indigenous languages still require support, affordable housing still requires advocacy, and we are fighting against a rising tide of populism and right wing demagoguery, which shamelessly parrots the movement to the south.
Staying connected is the thing.
thank you, Chris… so deeply sorry for what the US gov is doing… and so deeply grateful for what you have written here. I am experiencing your post as one of those human-to-human strands that keep us in-formed, thin yet resilient spiderweb threads weaving connection amidst the swirl of “shock and awe” overwhelm….
A Canadian friend in one of the small groups I’m part of, has been offering some very helpful strong doses of Canadian reality from time to time… so much grief, “I thought our two countries were good friends and neighbors… what the F is happening…” thank you so much for the texture and details in your post, really helps things land in our hearts….
Here in Europe where I’m currently living, massive shock as well, though different of course… neighbors across the ocean, not sharing thousands of miles of a land border. The threat of annexing Canada is preposterous. And it’s something which Europeans can relate to more viscerally, and thus take very seriously. Thank you, and I’m so very sorry.
It’s good to hear how Europeans are dealing with this. Time for me to check in with my friends in the Baltics.
»Life just seems to go on.«
In case that’s still an illusion, it must be broken by reporting and celebrating the resistance, and by speaking up, in public. Not just by “feeling sorry”, in private conversations. Otherwise, the next steps will also “just go on”.
Indeed. And as evidenced by many people in this thread, there is active organization into dealing with the fall out from this new administration’s policy blitzkrieg. And of course for others life will just go on, becasue this is what they want, and when they hit some pain as a result, the obvious thing will be to find one of the many scapegoats that are being offered up. So in addition to actively resisting changes that hurt people, there continues to be a need to share experiences and highlight the personal effects that these decisions are having. Feeling sorry is helpful, but I truly don’t expect my American friends to offer me solutions to the trade war when they are instead focused on the alienation of public resources, the dismantling of government institutions, the enabling of violence and discrimination and deportation against humans, or rebuilding from a hurricane that happened six months ago with ever decreasing supports and resources to do so.
Surely Americans deserve to be made aware? If they are mostly well-meaning, can’t they have the generosity that is its usual accompaniment to have another point of view explained? Isn’t that just kind and respectful, especially if the signs are of an initial ignorance?
in the UK, the feeling is one of hell-bent destruction while a vast nation is dragged behind it clueless (thus apparently compliant with) of what has been done and is being in its name.
For sure. The strategy is to overwhelm and to move so fast that there isn’t enough time to pause and analyse. And then when things break, assign the blame to someone else. Donald Trump actually did that last night. He pointed to Marco Rubio and said “you’re in charge of getting the Panama Canal back and if it doesn’t work out, we’ll know who to blame.” Rubio looked both proud and completely terrified of his predicament.
In case anyone reading this doesn’t realize, there is indeed massive resistance happening across the US–the citizenry here is far from complacent. In my town (population ~175,000) i’ve never seen such large turnout at such frequent protests organized on such short notice. Republican congresspeople are cancelling “town hall” meetings because their voters who elected them are showing up angry at what’s happening. Listeners to right-wing talk radio shows are calling in with comments and concerns about what the Republicans are doing and how it’s affecting them personally and their friends–while the hosts are still completely blowing them off and being mean in response, the fact those calls are happening says something. Workers in national parks are hanging the US flag upside down on iconic natural features to express their dismay. People are protesting outside Tesla dealerships in cities across the nation. Phone calls to congress have increased by 40x from an average of 40/minute to 1600/minute. I don’t know how much the resistance is reported abroad but it’s very real. And yes we need more.
I see it!