MONTREAL — The victory came slowly, then all at once.
At first, one of Canada’s most legendary hockey teams struggled to keep up with its American opponent on Tuesday, leaving its goalie to block more shots than during any other game this season.
But the crowd refused to let the Montreal Canadiens’ winning streak and playoff hopes shatter on home soil — especially not against the Detroit Red Wings, a fellow “Original Six” team, caught on the opposite side of an international economic rivalry.
Each of the Canadien’s advances was carried forward on a wave of “oohs,” each setback was met with a wall of “aahs,” the stands rising and falling as the two teams traded shots, before erupting as the puck finally found its target, tying the game at the end of the second period.
From then on, the momentum was on the Canadiens’ side. And then it was over: With a minute left, the Habs sent a shot flying across the entire rink into an undefended net, all but ensuring a win, and then sealed the deal with a final goal.
Over 20,000 people jumped to their feet. Triumphant chants cut through the 15-degree wind chill outside. Canadians appeared more united than at any point in his lifetime, Montreal native Yanick Blouin said. But the reason had nothing to do with hockey.
“We felt like we’d been cheated,” Blouin said. “Now we see a strong union is growing in Canada.”
Blouin, a French Canadian at the game to support Montreal, was referring to the geopolitical upheaval floating just below the game’s surface.
Over the past 11 weeks, President Donald Trump has shaken the global economy with a series of new tariffs he says will rebalance trade partnerships to benefit America — but which will disproportionately harm key Canadian products.
The levies include a 25% charge for automobiles, auto parts and up to $360 billion of other goods that fall outside of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA); 10% on non-USMCA compliant energy and minerals; and 25% on all steel and aluminum imports to the U.S.
Canada, the No. 2 trade partner of the U.S. and Utah, was not included in Trump’s “Liberation Day” announcement of worldwide baseline tariffs, nor was it one of the countries to receive a 90-day reprieve on Wednesday, the same day Canada’s reciprocal 25% tariff on American vehicles went into effect.
While there was almost no booing of the United States national anthem on Tuesday, as there had been nearly two months earlier at the very same Bell Centre in Montreal, tensions still exceeded the typical hockey game as America’s car-manufacturing capital in Michigan faced off against Canada’s metal-processing powerhouse in Quebec.
Blouin, a construction company executive, said the tariffs have already caused some European partners to distribute their products directly to Canada instead of through the U.S. But his feelings remain mixed between pessimism and uncertainty.
Karine Delage, a Montreal-based PR professional with clients in New York that have been impacted by tariffs on wine imports, called the tariffs “sad” because the U.S. and Canada were “proof that countries can help each other.”
Sylvain Gagnon, a steelworker at a company that sells to a Canadian firm that exports to the U.S., said Trump’s policies have been “selfish” and have caused “trouble in all the countries in the world.”
Jason Ogg, a native from the rural province of Manitoba, said the policies seemed short-sighted but clarified that he doesn’t see them as reflective of bad feelings from Americans toward Canadians.
“We’re not mad at you guys. We’re mad at one guy,” Ogg said. “There’s still a lot of love there.”
From the point of view of these northern neighbors, Trump’s foreign policy has come as a shock, forcing them to reconsider a steady relationship they had taken for granted.
To some American business owners, on the other hand, the policy shift feels like a long awaited recognition of the enduring trade disparities that have burdened domestic industries for decades.
Will tariffs be a boon for U.S. businesses?
Billy Caruso wasn’t afraid to stand out at the Bell Centre Tuesday night, with his Red Wings jersey or his proud views on the U.S. president.
As the owner of a restaurant just across the border in Vermont, Caruso said that he’s happy to absorb the costs of tariffs if it means a better economic outlook for the U.S.
“It’s not an even exchange with other countries ... it’s time to even the field a little bit,” Caruso said. “It’ll impact me now, but in the future, for me and my kids and my grandchildren, it’ll help them.”
The Trump administration argues that the tariffs are already working to achieve two separate goals: to re-shore American manufacturing and to eliminate foreign trade barriers.
Since Trump began implementing the broadest tariff regime in over a century, some of the largest companies in the world have announced large investments in American factories and nearly 50 countries have reportedly approached Trump’s trade representative about removing their own tariffs.
One longtime Utah manufacturer said Trump’s policies have given him hope that the next generation will be able to build a business from scratch like he did.
Dave Luman is the founder and president of the Logan-based White Rock Inc., a precision machining shop, and Rock Slide Engineering, an off-road vehicle equipment company, which together employ around 100 workers. During his 57 years in manufacturing, Luman saw friend after friend lose their career factory job as corporations sought out cheaper labor in other countries, he said.
Those same pressures have forced Luman to pivot multiple times to build companies that can compete with the heavily subsidized and monopolistic business practices in China. Tariffs appear like the right tool to stop the hollowing out of American industries, according to Luman.
“I’ve endured so much pain trying to stay in business that I don’t see this as painful at all,” Luman said. “For people like me that don’t import a whole bunch of stuff it’s going to be a turnaround.”
More expensive foreign imports have already resulted in around 10 new customers at Luman’s precision tool manufacturing business, which he said only uses American-sourced materials.
But Luman acknowledged it might not make sense to crack down as much on countries that are “close friends,” like Canada, because American products often cross the border many times before they are completed.
Do Canadian tariffs hurt Americans?
One example of this is auto manufacturing. American car companies rely heavily on plants in Canada and Mexico for parts and the assembly of many vehicles.
Utah state Sen. Chris Wilson, R-Logan, who joined Utah Gov. Spencer Cox on a trade mission to Canada this week, is the dealer principal at Wilson Motor Company, a Ford-Nissan dealership in Logan that has been in his family for three generations.
Wilson is taking a tentative approach as he waits for the economic situation to play out. While Trump’s tariffs have already led to the temporary suspension of thousands of Stellantis employees in Canada and the U.S., Ford, which imports less of its vehicles than Stellantis, has announced it will reduce prices on most vehicles to the employee rate.
“I believe President Trump is doing what he thinks is right for America,” Wilson said. “Time will tell how the economy ultimately responds but we think it could be an opportunity for American-made products.”
The Utah delegation, made up of a group of around 30 Utah cabinet members, state lawmakers, business leaders and university administrators, has spent the week meeting with government officials and industry experts in Quebec and Ontario to signal Utah’s desire to forge additional economic ties in the areas of critical minerals and artificial intelligence.
In an interview with the Deseret News, Véronique Proulx, the CEO of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce of Quebec, said the Utah trade mission has come at a critical time for the U.S.-Canada relationship.
“In this current context, it’s really important for a governor like Gov. Cox to come to Quebec,” Proulx said. “I think it sends a really strong message to Quebec companies, to Canadian companies, that we want to continue doing business, even though all of this is happening.”
The initial reaction to Trump’s tariffs by Canadian business partners has been frustration and confusion, according to Proulx, because it appears that instead of strengthening the U.S. in comparison to China, the new levies will instead encourage Canadian companies to divert their exports away from America.
Preceding this long-term trend is an immediate decrease in investment, Proulx said, because U.S. and Canadian businesses are unable to predict whether tariffs will endure, drop or double.
While tariffs weigh heavily on Quebec, which currently sends 70% of its exports to the U.S., charging more for imports from Canada could also raise costs for U.S. businesses that depend on Canadian steel and aluminum, Proulx said.
“But one thing’s for sure is that Quebec companies, Canadian companies, have taken note that this is what’s happening, so it’s bringing them to review their trade relationships,” Proulx said. “We will look for new trading partners.”
The way Blouin saw it, standing in a black trench coat beside a wall of red and blue jerseys, new American policies had forced Canadians to confront the need to be less reliant on the U.S. and to lean more heavily on friendships in the European Union.
The question emerging from Tuesday’s hockey game appeared to be whether one country’s economic victory inevitably meant a loss for the other. To that, Blouin’s answer was an emphatic “no.”