Donald Trump has begun his second term as president of the United States with an offensive on many fronts, including the international one. Countries that are traditionally friends and allies of the United States have been surprised by the imposition of heavy tariffs on their exports to the US. Tariffs that have then been suspended without clear quid pro quos – in many cases by the ‘application’ of situations that were already occurring previously – but which have not created a favorable environment for the US in its recipients.
An example is what happens in two of the major professional sports leagues in North America. The NHL and the NBA both include Canadian and American teams. Before each game between teams from one country and the other, both national anthems were played. Now, the U.S. anthem is booed by fans in Canada and, in return, the Canadian anthem is booed in the United States.
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This happened at NHL games in Vancouver and Winnipeg, as well as at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena before the Raptors-New York Knicks game. During the Vancouver Canucks-Detroit Red Wings game, the anthems were performed by wheelchair-bound singer Agasha Mutesasira, who said that after the incident many people approached her to stress that the booing was not against her. In Canada, the situation has been exacerbated by Donald Trump’s statements about making Canada the 51st state of the United States.
Donald Trump attends the Super Bowl, surrounded by security and supporters on the stadium field.
In the United States, at the NHL game between the Nashville Predators and the Ottawa Senators, the Canadian national anthem was booed. The situation could be compromised at the Four Nations Face Off tournament, which will be held from February 12 to 20 in Montreal and Boston between the national teams of the United States, Canada, Sweden and Finland.
The situation is unlikely to be resolved quickly as it depends on the evolution of the external situation, apart from the fact that the playing of national anthems before matches in the USA and Canada is a tradition. But the ‘anthem war’ is spreading. At a children’s ice hockey tournament in Quebec, the organisers urged the public not to boo the anthem on the grounds that the participants were only children.
