Shortly after the Windsor’s big screens, Ontario, started “Hockey Night in Canada”, fans at the Arena could hear it delivered an ice message while the national anthem of the guest team was played. They raised, long and loud.
The team of the away team was Minnesota Wild, the anthem was “Star Transparent”, and the Ottawa game on Saturday took place a few hours after President Trump imposed heavy tariffs for Canadian imports.
Windsor is a car capital of Canada, and the city where the flag boasted in the American anthem boasted often as hovering next to a Canadian colleague. With Detroit across the border, ATMs in Windsor repay the US and Canadian dollars.
And so the decision of Mr. Trump is to impose a harmful 25 percent of tariffs on most Canadian exports and 10 percent of energy exports launched waves of anger and worry in Windsor, and a sense of many people, deep disappointment and helplessness.
Tariffs, an amazing deviation from the norm in the modern relations between the two countries, caused concern about the rapid stopping of local car plants, as well as a car factory in Detroit across the river that at some moments it is only half a mile width only half a mile.
Mr. Trump’s proposals, repeated on Sunday to leave Canada her sovereignty and throw herself in the United States, she only added an insult to injury. Canadians in Windsor considered the idea of the US president – to put it mildly – deeply undoubtedly.
“What will he do to us?” Naja’s Peters, a shopkeeper in the store, wondered, because she scanned a newspaper on the front page with a large photo of Canadian flag Maple Leaf. , but we will all suffer in the end. “
Mrs. Peters, who moved to Windsor from Trinidad 25 years ago, said, “It’s disturbing, but what can we do? I’m proud to be a Canadian.”
Lana Payne, President of the Unifor, a union representing many Windsor automatic services and employees in other industries across the country, said that, since Mr. Trump’s Tariffs were announced late on Saturday afternoon, that her messages were destroyed.
“Many Canadians wake up this morning absolutely furiously and tries to find out why their closest ally in the world would do this to them,” said Mrs. Payne, who estimated that about 120,000 members of her union were working on jobs dependent on export jobs, primarily, primarily to the United States. “I never thought I would see it during my life.”
Windsor seems to have been on the rise.
After many years of new car -in other places in Canada or, more often, Mexico and southern United States, Stellantis spent $ 1.89 billion (about $ 1.3 billion) to remodel Chrysler installation in Windsor to make electricity vehicles along with gasoline -one. With 4,500 employees, and thousands more expected after the third shift is added, the factory is the center of the auto industry in Windsor.
And on the eastern city edges, $ 5 billion (about $ 3.4 billion) batteries owned by Stellantis and LG is under construction, and one part is already in work.
Now, instead of expecting growth, local companies are eagerly waiting to see if they can keep what they already have.
Flavio Volpe, president of the Automobile Part Manufacturers Association, Canadian trade groups, said that Windsor’s many Auto parts manufacturers receive weekly orders from car manufacturers on the basis of manufacturing schedules of assembly factories in Canada and the United States. Now, he said, Auto -Pophani will probably tell manufacturers of parts with US orders “that they need to eat 25 percent.”
Since the absorbing of tariffs would mean losses of 15 percent to 20 percent for most parts, most would probably decide to stop supplying, Mr. Volpe said. Car manufacturers would also have to dramatically increase consumers prices to make up for the tariffs on finished cars shipped from Canada.
“How will you book a loss every day?” Mr. Volpe asked.
George Papp, Executive Director PAPP Plastic, parts of parts based near the Detroit River in Windsor, said on Sunday that he still had to hear from any car company.
“It becomes obvious that this is less punishment of Canada or Mexico, and more about restructuring revenue for the United States,” said Mr. Papp. Other nations can soon be hit by American tariffs. “Canada and Mexico are world examples of what follows,” he said.
Because car -boots are often kept in the stock of parts worth only 24 hours, it is expected that the exclusion of assembly lines will quickly follow any suspension of the sections of the parts. The Stellantis plant in Windsor, which forms minivans and muscle cars, is among the risk because it relies on components sent from the United States used by Canadian parts.
Even before Mr. Trump made an official tariff order, and the Canadian government responded to their own tariffs on US products, some people in Windsor talked about boycotts.
In a cafe with a distillery in which Canadian club whiskey was made – and mostly exports to the United States – two men could be heard loudly discussing their capabilities. They excluded any vacation in the United States and even vowed that they would not cross the Detroit Tigers river after the baseball season began.
According to official orders, American beer, wine and Sprits should be drawn from the shelves of government alcoholic beverages. One supermarket led paid posts that uttered the Canadian origin of some pasta brands and frozen fries. And the Canadian Airlines web commercials for excursions to sunny American winter destinations welcomed the demolished comments and calls for vacation in Canada.
Although economic concerns are prevalent, the residents of Windsor are also concerned about the damage the dispute represents in a close relationship in which they have long enjoyed the United States.
“Detroit is our yard,” said Dilkens, Windsor Mayor, sitting in a meeting room overlooking the outline of the American city.
Mr. Dilkens said Canada has “cards we can play” in retaliation, but that his appearance did not give him pleasure.
“We want to be friends, as we have been hundreds of years,” he said. “We’re not looking for a battle.”
