BBC News, Toronto

A few hours after President Donald Trump announced that he would impose steep prices in Canada, hockey fans of the capital Ottawa hooked the star banner in a game of the National Hockey League against an American team on Visit Visit .
Sunday, during a National Basketball Association match between the Raptors of Toronto and the Clippers of Los Angeles, it happened, continuing throughout the song and almost drowning the performance of the singer of the singer 15 years old.
The vocal discontent of generally respectful fans is a clear sign of the deep dismay of Canadians during the move of Trump to strike his nearest ally with punitive taxes, which threaten to trigger an unprecedented trade war on the North American continent.
The 25% tariffs imposed by Trump on all Canadian imports in the United States – with a levy of less than 10% on energy – should take effect on Tuesday.
And they come as President Trump doubles his efforts – is no longer rejected as a joke – so that Canada joins America and becomes the 51st state.
While many economists project prices will also increase Americans’ costs on essential elements of everyday, from grocery store, Canada is the most exposed trading partner. If they last for months, the country could give a donation of a painful economic recession.
The anger built – and with it, the desire to set up a response which was resolved by political leaders in the country of 40 million.
“Many of us will be affected by this, and we will have difficult times. I ask you to be there for each other,” said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a Saturday evening address. “It’s now time to choose Canada.”

Some Canadians have already taken into account calls for solidarity. On social networks, guides have circulated on how to avoid American manufacturing products. A local grocery store in Toronto has even started to label its Canadian yogurt for buyers, according to An image published by Toronto Doctor Iris Gorfinkel on x.
Others said they would cancel travel plans in the United States or completely give up the visit.
“Yesterday, in response to Trump’s prices, we canceled our March break in the United States,” Seth Klein, Canadian author, on Bluesky on Sunday. “Took a little blow on the canceled train tickets, but it had to be done.”
In some Canadian provinces – namely Ontario, the largest in the population – American alcohol will be removed from the shelves indefinitely from Tuesday.
This is added to a total of $ 155 billion CA (105 billion dollars; 86 billion pounds sterling) of American products that Canada declared that it was priced in retaliation, including vegetables, clothes, equipment sportsman, perfume and other articles. The goods from the States led by the Republicans, such as Florida orange juice, are specifically targeted.
The United States imports its oil from Canada more than any other country, and the Trudeau government has reported that “all the options remain on the table” for new reprisals.
A “destabilizing” moment for Canada
Trump’s follow -up on his threat of steep prices – which has long been supposed to be a negotiation tactic to obtain concessions on border security – disturbed Canadians, who have benefited from economic, social and close security ties with the United States for decades.
“It’s a shock,” said Michael Ignatieff, the former head of the Liberal Party of Canada, at the BBC.
“We are in a new world, in which the question of whether you can trust America becomes the fundamental question of foreign policy for each country.”
Pierre Poilievre, leader of the Conservative Party of the Opposition of Canada, described the prices on Sunday as “massive, unjust and unjustified”.
“Canada is the closest neighbor to the United States, the largest ally and the best friend,” he said, noting that Canada has fought alongside the United States in two world wars, as well as in Korea and Afghanistan. “There is no justification for this treatment.”
Prime Minister Trudeau questioned in his address on Saturday, why the United States would target Canada instead of seeking “more difficult parts” in the world.
Part of his speech was directly addressed to the Americans, and too, underlined a story of shared blood outpouring. “We fought and died, by your side,” said Trudeau.
Thomas Juneau, professor at the University of Ottawa, emphasizing national security, told BBC that Trump’s prices “undoubtedly represent an earthquake in Canadian-American relations”.
“It’s extremely destabilizing for Canada,” said Professor Juneau. “As a country, we have massively benefited from our extremely close trade and security partnership with the United States for decades.”
Although the trade battle probably forced Canada to seek partners elsewhere, it cannot ultimately escape geography, he said. It will remain depending on the economic superpower next to it.
“This is why Canada must absolutely focus on recovering the relationship as much as possible,” said Professor Juneau.
An unclear and expensive fight
The great stranger remains how long the United States will maintain the prices in place and what measures can take to appease the Trump administration, which said it expects measures on the trafficking in cross-border fentanyl and illegal migration.
TD economy projects In order for the more the prices, the more the impact will be worse. Canada could enter a recession in five to six months, and its unemployment rate could reach more than 7%.
Theo Argitis, director general of the Public Affairs Company based in Ottawa, Compass Rose Group, said the unknowns had left Canada other choice “but to retaliate hard (Trump)”.
“In the end, we don’t even really know why he does this,” Argite told BBC.
Trump says that the fentanyl flow, a very powerful and deadly medication in the United States from Canada and Mexico, is a key reason. US officials say the samples will remain in place “until the crisis is attenuated”.
In response, the Canadian government noted that less than 1% of fentanyl and illegal border crossings in the United States come from Canada. He proposed spending an additional $ 1.3 billion to guarantee the American border in Canada
But Trump also spoke publicly about his frustration in the face of the trade deficit between Canada and the United States, and more broadly his point of view that prices could be a source of income for Washington chests.
On Sunday, he wrote on Truth Social that the United States does not need Canadian products and said the United States paid “hundreds of billions of dollars to subsidize Canada”.
“Without this massive subsidy, Canada ceases to exist as a viable country,” wrote Trump, before repeating his point of view that Canada should rather become an American state.
He warned that the White House would promulgate more severe sanctions in Canada if it chose to retaliate. For the moment, Canada has chosen to try to inflict targeted pain on its most powerful neighbor, even if the economic scales are lower than it.
“We prefer to resolve our disputes with diplomacy,” Trudeau told his country on Saturday. “But we are ready to fight if necessary.”