Since Donald Trump won the recent United States presidential election, Canadian policymakers are trying to anticipate a variety of plausible scenarios to deal with an unpredictable leader and his intentions on everything from trade to mass deportations, border security, currency, NATO, climate action and energy.

The president-elect’s threat to slap 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian imports to the U.S. on his first day in office caused immediate alarm in Canadian political and economic spheres, as have his social media posts making reference to “Governor Justin Trudeau” and the “great state of Canada.”

There was a rapid response from the federal government, generating enormous media coverage, demonstrating a skill at which Trump is particularly adept — getting attention.

Canada has been sending delegations to the U.S. all year in anticipation of Trump’s election. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland assured Canadians after the Nov. 5 election that “Canada will be absolutely fine.” In short, the government is ready and demonstrating a steady hand in the face of the current chaos.

It’s encouraging to hear the government has a co-ordinated plan, but before rushing to adapt, both federal and provincial governments should reflect on their recent experiences handling the COVID-19 pandemic and the dangers of being overly adaptive.

After describing the pandemic as low risk to Canadians throughout January and February 2020 — similar to Freeland’s “Canada will be fine” message today — governments leaned in hard on pandemic mitigation efforts in March........

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