Shortly after “Hockey Night in Canada” began on the big screens of a bar in Windsor, in Ontario, fans in the arena could hear a tradition of frozen message as a national anthem of the visits group. Boot, long and loud.
The team he visited was the Minnesota Wild, the anthem was “The Banner with a Star”, and the game in Ottawa took hours on Saturday after President Trump imposed heavy trade tariffs on Canadian imports.
Windsor is the capital of Canada’s car and a city where the flag praised on the American anthem can often see it beating next to its Canadian counterpart. With Detroit just beyond the border, Windsor ATMs disburse both US and Canada dollars.
Thus, Mr Trump’s decision to destroy the destruction of 25 % invoices on most Canadian exports and 10 percent contributions to energy exports has caused waves of anger and concern to Windsor and a sense, for many people, deep frustration and weakness.
Invoices, a stunning deviation from the rule in modern relations between the two countries, has raised concerns about the rapid closure of local cars, as well as the Detroit car factories in a river that in some places are only half a mile width.
Mr Trump’s proposals were repeated again on Sunday, that Canada abandoned his sovereignty and throws his lot with the United States simply added an injury. The Canadians in Windsor saw the idea of ​​the US president as – to put it gently – deeply unexpectedly.
“What will he do for us?” Navita Peters, an employee at a convenience store, wondered as the price-was a newspaper with a large photo of a Canadian Maple Leaf flag on the front page. “It’s unfortunate for entrepreneurs, but we’ll all suffer in the end.”
Mrs Peters, who moved to Windsor 25 years ago by Trinidad, said: “He is upset, but what can we do? I am proud to be Canadian.”
Lana Payne, president of Unifor, a union that represents many of Windsor’s automatic and employees in other industries across the country, said that after Mr Trump’s invoices were announced late Saturday afternoon, had been discouraged. by messages.
“Many Canadians wake up this morning completely outraged and try to understand why their closest ally to the world will do so to them,” said Ms. Payne, who estimates that about 120,000 of the members of the Union are working in jobs in jobs that They depend on exports, especially in the United States. “I never thought I would see it in my life.”
Windsor had seemed to be on the rise.
After many years of new car investment going to other places in Canada or, more often, Mexico and the Southern United States, Stelantis spent $ 1.89 billion in Canadian dollars (about $ 1.3 billion) to renew a Chrysler assembly factory In Windsor to make electric vehicles alongside gasoline -strongly. With 4,500 employees and thousands of more expected as soon as a third displacement is added, the plant is the air industry junction in Windsor.
And outside the eastern margins of the city, a $ 5 billion battery factory (about $ 3.4 billion) owned by Stelantis and LG are under construction, with a part already in operation.
Now, instead of predicting growth, local companies are looking forward to seeing if they can keep what they already have.
Flavio Volpe, president of the Association of Car Manufacturers of a Canadian trading team, said many Windsor spare parts manufacturers receive weekly orders from automakers based on the timetables of both in the United States and the United States. Now, he said, car companies are likely to inform spare parts with US orders “that they should eat 25 %”.
Since the absorption of the invoice would mean losses of 15 % to 20 % for most accessories companies, most would probably decide to stop shipping, Mr Volpe said. Highways will also have to dramatically raise prices for consumers to compensate for invoices in final cars sent by Canada.
“How will you close a loss every day?” Mr. Volpe asked.
George Papp, the chief executive of Papp Plastics, manufacturer of spare parts located near the Detroit River in Windsor, said Sunday that he had not heard from any car companies yet.
“It is obvious that this is less for the punishment of Canada or Mexico and more for the restructuring of revenue for the United States,” Mr Papp said. Other nations may soon be found from US invoices. “Canada and Mexico are the examples of the world for what will come,” he said.
Because automatic plants are often maintained in stock of just 24 hours of accessories, assembly holidays are expected to quickly follow any suspension of accessories missions. The Windsor plant, which makes minivans and muscle cars, is among these facilities at risk, as it is based on components sent by the United States using Canadian parts.
Even before Mr Trump made the tariff official and the Canadian government responded with his own invoices for US products, some people in Windsor were discussing boycott.
In a café next to the distillery, where the Canadian whiskey club – and is largely exported to the United States – two men could be heard loudly discussing their choices. They revealed to take any holidays in the United States and even vowed not to cross the river for Detroit Tigers’ games as soon as the baseball season begins.
According to official orders, American beer, wine and drowning must be pulled from the shelves of alcoholic alcohol stores. A supermarket was running with paid places that were coming out of the Canadian origin of certain brands of pasta and frozen fried potatoes. And online ads from Canadian airlines to travel to a more sunny winter destination in the US have met with disappointing comments and calls on a holiday in Canada.
While economic concerns are dominant, Windsor residents are also concerned about the damage posed by the controversy in the close relationship they have long enjoyed with the United States.
“Detroit is our threshold,” said Drew Dilkens, Windsor mayor, sat in a meeting room overlooking the American city horizon.
Mr Dilkens said Canada had “cards we can play” in retaliation, but that the perspective did not give him any pleasure.
“We want to be friends, as for hundreds of years,” he said. “We’re not looking for battle.”
