That was fast. Whatever cheer Canadian business and political leaders might have felt after U.S. President Donald Trump punted on the promise of immediate tariffs was likely tempered last night when he told reporters that 25-per-cent levies could begin on Feb. 1.

The mixed signals between Trump’s remarks in the Oval Office, which came just hours after an inauguration speech that was otherwise light on trade rhetoric, underscore the uncertainty and risk weighing on Canada’s fragile economy under the president’s protectionist agenda.

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In the White House last night, Trump said he is now targeting the beginning of next month for his promised tariffs on all imports into the U.S. of Canadian and Mexican goods.

“We’re thinking in terms of 25 per cent on Mexico and Canada because they’re allowing vast numbers of people – Canada’s a very bad abuser also – vast numbers of people to come in, and fentanyl to come in,” he told reporters.

Earlier, Canadian politicians and business leaders were breathing a sigh of relief after Trump decided not to impose tariffs on his first day. Nevertheless, they were bracing for a period of uncertainty.

You can learn a lot about Trump’s economic agenda from this picture. From the left, next to Ivanka Trump (who is not returning to the White House in an official capacity) is Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg. The bearded face peering above the President’s head is J.D. Vance, whose 2016 memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, made him a prominent voice for the rust belt and helped liberals understand why the politics of Trump resonated so profoundly with voters. Next to him in the long pink coat is his wife, Usha Vance.

Standing in a row behind her are Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, Alphabet chief Sundar Pichai, and Elon Musk – who, as CEO of SpaceX, Tesla and X, is now poised to steer a new Department of Government Efficiency. (That’s either an efficient use of one person or an inefficient way to keep many plates spinning.) He’s giving a thumbs up here as Trump talks about planting “the stars and stripes on the planet Mars.” Bezos, owner of rival space company Blue Origin, might be making a mental note to call an urgent meeting RE: Red Planet.

They’re all watching as Trump kicks off what they hope to be a new era of unfettered growth around artificial intelligence, data and other emerging technologies. The multi-billionaires in attendance, who also included Apple CEO Tim Cook and Zhang Yiming, co-founder of TikTok owner ByteDance, are hoping for a reversal to the more stringent regulatory approach of the Biden administration.

And Trump, who has called himself the “crypto president,” has introduced a new wrinkle in the balance of private interest and politics at the White House: Over the weekend, Donald and Melania Trump launched rival cryptocurrencies, which spiked to about US$11-billion and US$1.7-billion by yesterday morning. Analysts predict Trump could gain billions through the currency.

Trump has locked horns with many of these business leaders and their industries throughout his career. After Zuckerberg banned him from Facebook in the hours following the U.S. Capitol riot, Trump trained his attacks on Meta and the giants of Silicon Valley for perceived censorship of conservative voices – even blaming the companies for his 2020 election loss.

The President had previously criticized crypto as being dangerous to the dollar, led the ban on TikTok in his first term and sparred with people now in his inner circle. Vance, who has been criticized for changing his political stripes when it suits him, once compared Trump to Hitler.

Looking at this image, it’s easy to wonder how these feuds so quickly turned to friendships. But the U.S. is the land of opportunity, after all, and this picture might also be a reminder that the pursuit of opportunity is a powerful thing.

A brief reprieve?

That’s not to say a tech sector united behind Trump represents a golden opportunity for others. Watching from the Canadian embassy, about a 20-minute walk west along Constitution Avenue, were a who’s-who of business and political leaders bracing for the worst as Trump delivered his speeches and signed executive orders on Day 1. And for much of the day, they thought they had averted disaster.

For weeks, the country has faced the possibility that the new U.S. President would move ahead with his promise to put a 25-per-cent tariff on all goods imported from Canada on his first day in office. Yesterday, when Trump instead issued a memorandum directing the government to study trade policies and relations with China, Canada and Mexico, the crowd at the Canadian embassy was temporarily under the impression they had more time to negotiate. But Trump’s remarks last night underscored the unpredictable nature of his leadership.

What Trump’s energy ambitions mean for Canada

A 25-per-cent tariff would be devastating to Canada’s oil industry, which accounts for a significant percentage of the country’s overall gross domestic product.

In his inauguration speech, Trump said he plans to declare a national energy emergency aimed at boosting domestic production and lowering costs for consumers. He reiterated his vision for the U.S. to build energy independence – again repeating “drill, baby, drill” in his inauguration speech – meaning the Canadian sector was bracing for pain even without the threat of tariffs, Emma Graney and Jeffrey Jones report.

Read more

• Rob Carrick: On Donald Trump’s inauguration day, a personal finance briefing for Canadians.
• Tony Keller: What if Trump’s tariffs are non-negotiable?
• Catch up: Everything you need to know about Trump’s historic inauguration.

More than one-third of Canadians have turned to the Internet for medical advice because they couldn’t access a doctor or other health professional,