President Donald Trump’s tariffs on American exports are having a big impact on the government’s politics, but possible no one the leader or his aides intended.
Canada’s Liberal Party, buoyed by Trump’s escalating trade conflict and insults about making the country the 51st state, has swiftly closed the important prospect held by Conservatives and Leader Pierre Poilievre heading into national elections this October.
Polling showed the Conservatives up 20 to 30 points earlier this year, but elections published in early March and late February showed the contest narrowing to a toss-up.
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Beth Burke, CEO of the French American Business Council, told the Washington Examiner that mood among American voters has “definitely shifted” in favor of the Democrats since the industry battle kicked off on Trump’s view.
” We have seen this through lots of different variants in the U. S., but individuals become nationalistic when they feel attacked, and they coalesce around the persons who they think are championing their protection”, she told the Washington Examiner. ” And right now, the Democratic state is doing that. I don’t suspect to say that the Liberals wouldn’t be doing the same thing, but I would simply say, if you look at the figures, the surveys are certainly trending in that direction. In fact, I think it’s having the same result”.
A poll published by Ipsos last week gave Liberals their first election lead since 2021, showing 38 % support compared to 36 % for Conservatives — , a 4-point swing from the Ipsos last poll two weeks prior.
Nik Nanos, Ipsos’s chief data scientist, said the election had moved from a referendum on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to a referendum on Trump and perceived hostility for Canada and, in the process, sent Conservatives ‘ hopes for a” super-majority” in government” completely out the window”.
” When the Conservatives had a 27-point benefit in our poll, it didn’t have anything to do with Pierre Poilievre being solid or liked, or the Conservatives being excellent planners”, he explained. ” It all had to do with fear of Justin Trudeau and people wanting shift and the Conservatives being the agent of change”.
Trudeau announced his resignation from office in January, with his group slated to proclaim its new chief this Sunday, but isn’t going slowly into the night. He’s regularly sparred with Trump over the 25 % taxes, which he argues are in violation of the U. S. Mexico-Canada Agreement on free business, brokered in 2019 by Trump himself.
Though Trump opted Thursday to expand one-month tax exemptions for all American and Hispanic imports complying with USMCA, a move previewed earlier this week by the Trump administration after tariff implementation led to significant stock market losses, Trudeau’s office maintains Canada will retain its punitive measures against the United States in place unless Trump drops the trade war immediately.
” We’re certainly interested in meeting in the middle and having some reduced price. Canada wants the levies removed”, American Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc confirmed in an appointment with the American Broadcasting Corporation.
Democrats ‘ two leading candidates to exchange Trudeau have fast taken related stances, positioning themselves as capable of standing up to Trump.
Mark Carney, who previously served as governor of the Bank of Canada during the 2008 financial crisis and governor of the Bank of England during Brexit, is the odds-on favorite to win that race.
” Canada faces one of the most serious crises in our history”, he declared during a debate in February. ” I know how to manage crisis and I know how to build strong economies”.
Chrystia Freeland, another top contender, served as a top official in Trudeau’s government before resigning over budgetary differences in December. She served as Canada’s foreign minister throughout the USMCA negotiations and has claimed that Trump is a “predator”.
” Let me be very clear with President Trump”, she stated during the debate with Carney. ” If I am prime minister, I will not flinch. We will retaliate. If you hit us, we will hit back, but our retaliation will be a lot smarter than their dumb tariffs”.
Poilievre, meanwhile, is seen as something of a diet Trump.
He rode into power on a wave of anti-coronavirus sentiment with a mantra evoking the president —” Canada is broken” — earning vocal public support from Elon Musk and Trump national security adviser Mike Waltz in the process.
Last month, Trudeau announced reciprocal tariffs on more than$ 30 billion in goods imported from the U. S., but the retaliation has also spilled into everyday life.
Canadians themselves are organizing boycotts of American products, especially bourbon and other spirits. The trade war has even broached Canada’s national pastime: hockey.
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Canadian fans have taken to booing the American national anthem before NHL games. And, during the first matchup between Team USA and Team Canada during the Four Nations Face-Off preliminaries last month, three fights took place during the first period of play alone. Team USA won that game, but Team Canada secured a 3-2 victory in the finals held in Boston the following week.
And despite Trump’s possible walking back of the tariffs, it seems like the relationship will stay icy for the foreseeable future. Trudeau told reporters this week,” We’re probably going to keep booing the American anthem”.
