My neighbors fly a Canadian flag
Trump: Canada has been 'very bad to us'
Standing at the kitchen sink doing dishes, I look out the window to see a Canadian flag blowing in the cold wind. I live in a community where residents fly both the American flag and the Canadian flag, often both at once.
Families live on both sides of the border.
Businesses serve patrons from both countries. The Palms Krystal Bar — aka Chicken in the Rough in Port Huron, Michigan — is widely known as a cross-border favorite that serves insanely delicious fried chicken, broiled fish and homemade soups.
A few blocks away, you’ll see pretty blue lights on the Blue Water Bridge spanning the St. Clair River between Port Huron, Michigan, and Point Edward, Ontario.
Americans cross the bridge for classic poutine. The artery at the southern end of Lake Huron is also a major trading route with trucks lined up as far as the eye can see
Signs going into Canada are written in French and English. It’s so different yet so familiar. Our sailors from both sides of the border race against each other every week during the spring, summer and fall.
Turn down the volume
What’s new and weird now is what happens when listening to the radio in the car.
I just heard a campaign ad for Doug Ford, premier of Ontario, saying he’ll hold Donald Trump accountable. The Progressive Conservative leader has made the U.S. president a campaign topic this year, along with his plan to attach 25% tariffs on goods from Canada.
It’s strange to hear our longtime ally and key trading partner talk about the U.S. president as an adversary. Last month, Ford promoted Ontario as a province with global authority and threatened consequences for an unfriendly U.S.
“With our fleet of nuclear power plants and the first small modular nuclear reactors in the G7, Ontario is uniquely positioned,” Politico reported. “He also touted Saskatchewan uranium, which he said is refined in Ontario before it is shipped to the U.S. ‘They wouldn’t be able to survive without the uranium for their weapons.’”
Friends have mentioned that Canadian relatives have canceled plans to visit. People are sad, talking about the division within families now.
In Michigan, hockey events always open with both the U.S. national anthem and the Canadian national anthem. Teams are filled with players from both countries. And fans know the words to both. In recent weeks, Canadian fans have begun booing “The Star-Spangled Banner” at NHL games, I’ve read social media threads with Americans saying they’re embarrassed and sorry for what’s happening. Americans booed the Canadian anthem in Nashville this month before a game between the Ottawa Senators and the Nashville Predators.
When I went to brunch at the Lochmoor Club in Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan, a man joked about the “51st state” after the Canadian anthem was sung.
No one laughed.
Our shared past, fight for freedom
Apart from trade and public policy, history shared between Ontario and Michigan is tied to freedom and “people working together toward change,” the CBC wrote for a report on the Underground Railroad, an organized network of secret routes and safe houses that helped slaves escape the Deep South.
Runaway slaves crossed Lake Huron from the U.S. into Canada. Settlements at the end of the escape route are now museums in Ontario, where people helped more than 30,000 enslaved African-Americans by providing food, clothes and shelter in houses and barns.
For more than 100 years, the bond between Michigan and Ontario has been strong, said former Michigan Gov. Jim Blanchard, who worked on trade issues as a member of Congress and later served as ambassador to Canada.
“Donald Trump has managed to unite all the political parties in Canada like no other issue or person.” Blanchard told me. “Canada has always had fragmented political parties.”
Then Trump ‘pulled out the knife’
During a campaign stop this month, Ford — the Ontario leader — said that Canada cannot trust this White House, according to CTVNews. He said of Trump in a video clip shared by Toronto radio reporter Richard Southern on X, “ … the guy pulled out the knife and f***ing yanked it in us.”
Canadians are reeling.
“I don't think the average American understands how angry the Canadians are at the constant threats and insults that Donald Trump has levied at the Canadian people,” Blanchard said. “... The long term harm to our relations is very serious.”
We depend on each other.
Our cross-border ties involve everything from the automotive industry to healthcare. So many nurses travel to metro Detroit to help fill the nursing shortage.
“Those of us who have these strong relations,” Blanchard said, “we will be the building blocks to repair the damage.”
‘Unpredictability’
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau predicted in January 2024 that a Trump re-election would create “a certain amount of unpredictability” for Canada, Reuters reported at the time. "We don't know exactly what he'll do.”
The trade relationship between the U.S. and Canada is vital, with each country being the other country’s largest trading partner.
In 2023, U.S. exported $441 billion worth of goods and services, while it imported $482 billion worth of goods from Canada, according to a July 8, 2024 report from the U.S. Congressional Research Service.
“We are the No. 1 export destination for 17 U.S. states and we are the number No. 2 export destination for 11 more states,” Vic Fedeli, Ontario’s Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, told me in an exclusive interview last month. “So, 28 U.S. states rely on us to be their customer.”
Trump: ‘Canada has been very bad to us’
On Thursday, Trump made new claims while advocating a 51st state.
He said in a Fox News segment, “Canada has been very bad to us on trade but now Canada is going to have to start paying up. And Canada has been tough on the military because they don't have a very, they have a very low military cost. They think we’re gonna, you know, protect them with our military, which is unfair. So, Canada is going to be a very interesting situation because, you know, we just don’t need their product. And yet they survive off the fact that we do 95% of what they do. And Canada is just absolutely … their taxes would come down greatly. Their security would go up greatly … Why would we pay $200 billion dollars a year in subsidies to Canada when they’re not a state? You do that for a state but you don’t do that for somebody else’s country. So I think Canada is gonna be a very serious contender to be our 51st state.”
Yet a month ago, NBC aired on “Meet the Press” video of Trump saying, “We are subsidizing Canada to the tune of over $100 billion a year.”
Trump hasn’t cited the source of the $100 billion figure, noted Andrew Chang, host of the CBC News show “About This.” It appears Trump may be referring to his own interpretation of trade data.
Marlene Robertson, who has 84.9K followers on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, posted on Thursday, “As a Canadian it is f**ing surreal to acknowledge that the United States is no longer our ally and friend.”
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Double Amen!
What a neat, no BS story. I feel the same as any Michigander knows, the Canadians are our friends and any idiot politician who says otherwise is an ...idiot!