Neighbours from the US and Canada sing their way past shame, anger and trade conflict in karaoke sessions overseen by Hermiz at her restaurant, Toast, on Detroit River. — Photos: BENNO SCHWINGHAMMER/dpa
Canadians are coming up with serious answers to a question that many would never have thought to consider: How to respond if the United States starts a war?
Fight. Hard, says Drew Dilkens, mayor of Windsor, Canada’s most important town along the border with the US.
Through the window, he can see Detroit, Michigan’s shining skyscrapers which are only partially obscured by Canadian flags flapping in the wind.
The two cities have long had close and friendly ties – for more than a century – but threats by the new administration in the US to annex Canada have upset the assumptions of many, at home and abroad.
The US might be stronger in military terms but Dilkens hopes allies worldwide would pitch in and help.
US president Donald Trump has begun a trade war with Canada and other nations worldwide – and while Washington’s tone is more conciliatory, many are still bracing for the next escalation.
Early April, Trump announced the US was imposing blanket tariffs of at least 10% on all imports to the country, plus additional levies for a host of trading partners, triggering significant turbulence in the stock and financial markets.
While many of the planned tariffs have been suspended for 90 days to allow for trade negotiations, special tariffs of up to 145% remain in place on Chinese goods and Beijing retaliated with tariffs of up to 125% on US products.
Trump’s tariffs, with the stated aim of bringing manufacturing jobs back to the US, are driving people worldwide to rethink their relations with Washington.
The North American Free Trade Agreement covers 38% of imports from Canada, according to the White House.
The two neighbours sought a solution in talks – with Trump’s repeated desire to make Canada the US’ 51st state in the background. Many north of the border no longer see this as a joke.
With thousands of jobs at risk in the Great Lakes region, where the US state of Michigan borders Canada’s Ontario, tensions are high.
It is not just cars that are made in the area – goods worth around US$340mil (RM1.45bil) flow across the famous Ambassador Bridge every day, more than a quarter of the total trade between the two neighbours.
Detroit River divides Canada and the US, but locals on each side of the border are trying to stay cool despite Washington’s trade war – and singing is helping.
And on the ground, locals long befriended with members of the communities from the other nation are unsettled.
At the Stellantis car factory in Windsor, Canada, Chrysler models are rolling off the production line. Outside, workers are streaming through turnstiles, heading home after their shift.
Only one is willing to share his views with a reporter from Europe. He turns up his radio in his truck and plays the song Deutschland by Rammstein.
Sure, he talks to his colleagues about the customs dispute, he shouts over – but there’s “nothing I can do”, he says.
Other people are making the decisions. He points upwards.
On the US side of the border, those ashamed of their president’s behaviour are most willing to talk.
We’re the laughing stock of Europe, grumbles a man working for a car rental company at the airport. Tourists might stop coming to the US. People could lose their jobs.
Luka Backus mixes cocktails at a hip bar in the heart of Detroit, once a pinnacle of glamour but now a symbol of decay and reinvention.
Prices are high here, with the least expensive drink costing US$20 (RM85).
“Fridays and Saturdays are always still busy, but we’ve noticed a drop in that. But Wednesdays and Thursdays are dead,” he says.
People are nervous, he says.
“It hits us really hard, and even the people that are coming in aren’t tipping as well.”
One couple came into Toast restaurant in Windsor on the Canadian side of the Detroit River were generous, says co-owner May Hermiz.
“They came and sat down, and we took their order, you know, got talking to them a little bit, and they told us that they were from the US and they love Canadians,” she says.
“They told us they love how we won the hockey game that day. And they told us how they want to pay for everybody in the restaurant that was sitting in at the moment,” she says.
“And mind you, it was a packed house. About 70 people were sitting dining in and they said they want to pay for everybody and that they don’t like what Trump is doing to us,” Hermiz says.
“They don’t think it’s fair. They said not all Americans love Trump, and they want to show their appreciation, and their love for Canada, and they want to just pay for everybody in the establishment,” she says.
They paid the US$1,138 (RM4,868) bill and everyone clapped and the couple went and hugged them, she says.
“And really it was very heartwarming to see, because of everything, like all the dividedness between us today, and it was just two people, just randomly coming to Canada, randomly coming to this restaurant, supporting a local small business, and they just wanted to pay for everybody to show their appreciation and love for Canadians.”
The divisions she refers to are evident as Canadians fly flags from their cars in a new-found cohesion and pride not seen in the past. Drinks made in the US are no longer on sale in stores.
Erin Hawkins vents her anger loud and clear at around midnight on a Sunday night as she steps up to the microphone at Villains pub in downtown Windsor.
It’s karaoke night and the speakers are blaring I Will Survive. But Hawkins has brought her own lyrics.
“And we spent so many nights thinking how you did us wrong,” she sings to the tune of the Gloria Gaynor hit.
“Now we’ve banded all together, your tariff made us strong.”
She belts out, “And so you know, you’re not so great/
There’s not a snowball’s chance in hell we’ll be your 51st state.”
She rounds off her rendition of the karaoke classic with a determined, “We will survive!” – dpa
