Janice Charette, walked into a room with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and, according to sources briefed on the talks, delivered a message that wasn’t a plea. It was a weather report. She told the Americans that if these tariffs land, Ottawa won’t be able to control what happens next. Not the premiers. Not the public. Not the wave of anti-American sentiment that’s been building for 18 months and shows no sign of cresting. The federal government would be forced — forced — by Canadians to retaliate, and once that chain of counter-retaliation starts, nobody’s steering it anymore.