Canadians watching to see if Donald Trump follows through on tariff threat

U.S. president-elect Donald Trump speaks at a rally ahead of the 60th Presidential Inauguration, Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump is set to return to the White House with a massive agenda, leading a deeply divided United States on a starkly different path from his predecessor — and the Republican leader has signalled it means pushing away from America’s closest neighbour and ally.

Canadians will be anxiously watching inauguration day ceremonies to see what is among Trump’s early priorities amid threats to slap Canada with a 25 per cent across-the-board tariff on Monday.

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His team has reportedly prepared more than 100 executive orders, though it’s unclear what is in the package and how many will be signed immediately.

“I think we want to see what the president decides to do,” Kirsten Hillman, Canada’s ambassador to the U.S., told Bloomberg News last week.

She added: “Canada will be ready for whatever comes our way.”

Bright red hats and toques with “Trump” scrawled across the front descended on Washington, D.C., over the weekend for rallies and events ahead of the Republican leader’s return to office as the 47th president.

Trump is the first former president to return to power since Grover Cleveland regained the White House in the 1892 election. He is the first person convicted of a felony to become president and, at 78, is the oldest person elected to the office.

The inauguration celebration is already much different than when he first took office in 2017. While thousands of people showed up to a People’s March against Trump in the nation’s capital Saturday, officials don’t expect there will be massive demonstrations, unrest or violence on Monday.

Trump’s first speech as president in 2017 painted a bleak picture of what he called “American carnage” but it was overshadowed in the news cycle by claims about crowd sizes.

That won’t be an issue this year, as a predicted blast of cold temperatures forced most of the events indoors.

Country music star Carrie Underwood is set to perform “America the Beautiful” before Trump gives his oath of office in the Capitol Rotunda.

Tech billionaires, world leaders, celebrities and athletes are among those expected to watch Trump give his inaugural address, including three of the richest men in the world -- Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos.

It has been reported that the theme of the speech is “unity.”

The celebrations serve as a stark contrast to Trump’s departure from the nation’s capital four years ago. In the wake of the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill attack, Trump refused to accept the outcome of the 2020 election and skipped President Joe Biden’s inauguration.

Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris, as well as former presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, have indicated they will be in attendance on Monday.

It’s unclear how the change in venue will impact the guest list.

Many Canadian politicians have also travelled to Washington and are attending an event at the Canadian Embassy, which sits on Pennsylvania Avenue between the U.S. Capitol and the White House.

Among those in attendance are Team Canada co-leads Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne and Trade Minister Mary Ng.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith will also be in the U.S. capital following last week’s controversy in Canada when she refused to sign off on a joint statement with other premiers and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that said every countermeasure was on the table to push back any proposed duties.

Smith, who recently travelling to Trump’s Florida Mar-a-Lago resort to meet with the president-elect, broke from the pack by refusing to consider any plan that would include possible levies on oil exports or cutting off energy supply to the U.S.

Canada has multiple options for retaliatory tariffs ready to go depending on what Trump ultimately does. If Trump sets the tariffs at 25 per cent, Canada’s response would be to impose counter-tariffs worth roughly $37 billion, and possibly follow up with another $110 billion in tariffs.

If the duties are lower, Canada’s tariff response would be more modest.

Hillman spoke on multiple American news programs last week making the case that any type of trade war between Canada and the U.S. should be avoided.

“I’m really hopeful that we are not going to get to that place,” Hillman said on Bloomberg News.

“It’s not good for the U.S., it’s not good for Canada. And there’s a lot of good things we can be doing together right now in energy and all sorts of other areas of trade.”

— With files from The Associated Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 20, 2025.

Kelly Geraldine Malone, The Canadian Press