Canada will be closely watching Monday’s swearing-in, which will take place around noon, to see what Mr. Trump’s priorities will be for the start of his term. In particular, he announced that he intends to impose customs tariffs of 25% on products imported from Canada.
His team has reportedly prepared more than 100 executive orders, but it is unclear what they contain or which ones will be signed immediately.
“I think we want to see what the president decides to do,” Canadian Ambassador to the United States Kirsten Hillman said last week. Bloomberg News.
“Canada will be ready to face whatever awaits us,” she added.
Different Investiture
Red caps and toques emblazoned with “Trump” took over Washington this weekend for rallies and events marking the Republican leader’s return to power as the 47th president.
Mr. Trump is the first former president to return to office since Grover Cleveland took over the White House in the 1892 election. He is the first person convicted of a crime to become president and, at 78, he is the oldest person elected to this position.
The celebration of his inauguration already looks very different from that of his inauguration in 2017. While thousands of people showed up for a demonstration against Mr. Trump in the nation’s capital on Saturday, officials do not expect whether there are massive demonstrations or episodes of violence on Monday.
Mr Trump’s first speech as president, in 2017, painted a grim portrait of what he called “American carnage”, but it was overshadowed in the media by claims about crowd sizes.
That won’t be a problem this year, as a cold snap forced most events indoors.
Country star Carrie Underwood is set to perform America the Beautiful before Mr. Trump took the oath of office in the Capitol rotunda.
Tech billionaires, world leaders, celebrities and athletes are among those expected to attend Mr Trump’s inaugural address, including three of the world’s richest men: Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos.
It was reported that the theme of the speech was “unity.”
Canadian elected officials in Washington
The current celebrations contrast sharply with Mr. Trump’s departure from the US capital four years ago. Following the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, Mr. Trump refused to accept the result of the 2020 election and did not appear at Joe Biden’s inauguration ceremony.
Mr. Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, as well as former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton have indicated they will attend Monday.
-It is not yet clear what impact the change of venue will have on the guest list.
Many Canadian politicians have also traveled to Washington and are participating in an event at the Canadian Embassy, located on Pennsylvania Avenue between the U.S. Capitol and the White House.
The co-leaders of Team Canada of the Trudeau government, Minister of Industry François-Philippe Champagne and Minister of Commerce Mary Ng, are notably in the American capital.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith will also be in Washington. Smith was at the center of controversy last week when she refused to sign a joint statement with other provincial premiers and Justin Trudeau that said all countermeasures were on the table to repel the customs duties that Donald Trump could impose.
Ms. Smith, who recently visited Mar-a-Lago to meet with the president-elect, stood out by refusing to consider any plan that would include possible taxes on oil exports or cutting off supplies energy of the United States.
The response is ready
Canada has several tariff retaliation options ready to go depending on what Mr. Trump decides to do.
If Mr. Trump sets tariffs at 25%, Canada’s response would be to impose counter-tariffs worth about $37 billion, and possibly follow up with additional tariffs of $110 billion.
If tariffs are lower, Canada’s tariff response would be more modest.
Ms. Hillman gave several interviews to American media last week to argue that any type of trade war between Canada and the United States should be avoided.
“I’m really hopeful that we won’t get to that point,” Hillman said in her interview with Bloomberg News.
“It’s not good for the United States, it’s not good for Canada. And we can do a lot of good things together right now in energy and all sorts of other business areas.”
— With information from the Associated Press
