There are a lot of things Maya Angelou got right.

These days, however, it's the quote "When someone tells you who they are, believe them the first time" that I can't stop thinking about, particularly considering the whirlwind happening south of the border this past week.

I went into February, like many of you, bracing for what would be an upheaval of the way North America has worked since the Great Depression on the whim of someone who has consistently proven himself to be unpredictable, malicious and cruel for no reason. Though the tariffs were walked back at the last moment on Monday, I and many others, feel the damage has been done.

Political theorists these days talk about something called the Overton Window. It refers to the range of subjects that are considered acceptable for political discussion. The further outside of this window of political acceptance an idea is, the more radical and then unthinkable it becomes. The thing is, the window can shift. That is done when political actors, commentators or groups float ideas that are far outside of the realm of acceptance, then ideas that are comparatively safer become part of what is acceptable.

For example, three months ago, the idea of the United States sending a ground invasion into Canada was unthinkable. However, weeks of rhetoric from the president of that country about annexation, economic pressure and coming this close to a trade war has turned the United States annexing Canada (the same way Russia "annexed" the Ukraine), into a regular talking point. It's an idea that is no longer unthinkable.

That itself is unthinkable.

I don't dislike the vast majority of people who live in the United States. I have family there, and I admire and look up to many Americans. The vast majority are just normal people like me who want the best for their communities and their families. However, the about-face on tariffs their president just pulled cannot fix the damage that has been done. The largest tariffs seen since before the Great Depression are on the table and are something that can and probably will happen. It's not unthinkable anymore. The way North America has worked since before my grandparents were born has changed, and we can't expect it to go back.

We need to take this 30-day period that the president will likely call a "win" and diversify our international trade, as well as our internal trade. We need to take this as a wake-up call and put aside our internal differences. We need strong communities, strong local food systems, strong and clean energy, and strong, sustainable resource use. We have a lot of work to do in our own communities, but we need to do that work on our own terms, in ways that work for us.

The leadership in the United States has told us who they are, time and again. We would do well to listen to them.