Talking at a mining conference in Toronto on Monday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford mentioned the province would again the nation’s united response to President Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs ― even when meaning chopping off electrical energy to america.
“In the event that they need to attempt to annihilate Ontario, I’ll do every part, together with lower off their vitality, with a smile on my face,” Ford said. “They depend on our vitality, they should really feel the ache. They need to come at us arduous, we’re going to come back again twice as arduous.”
The premier doubled down on that message Tuesday as he fielded questions from reporters whereas standing behind a podium studying, “Canada is just not on the market.” As a substitute of mutual prosperity and safety, mentioned Ford, “one man — President Trump — has chosen chaos.”
“Now we’ve no selection: We’ve to reply,” he mentioned.
In response to data tracked by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Canada exported $3.2 billion price of energy to america in 2023. Energy transmission between the 2 international locations performs a essential function in balancing the grid and making certain system reliability.
Ford has also threatened to lower off nickel exports to the U.S., which relied on Ontario for 46% of its provide of the metallic final yr. Nickel performs a vital function in making stainless-steel.
In a follow-up dialog with CNN, Ford apologized to the American folks while explaining his plans to, if want be, lower off electrical energy from Ontario that powers 1.5 million U.S. households in New York, Michigan and Minnesota.
“That is pointless, and we do should retaliate, and I apologize to the American folks. It’s not you, it’s your president that’s inflicting this downside,” he mentioned.
“President Trump ran on a mandate to decrease prices, to create extra jobs. That is going to do precisely the other.”
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded to Trump’s tariffs with a retaliatory 25% tariff on $30 billion price of U.S. items, calling out Trump directly for what Trudeau referred to as his “very dumb” tariff coverage.
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Trump responded by way of a social media put up riddled with capitalization errors and a jab he’s previously made on the prime minister.
“Please clarify to Governor Trudeau, of Canada, that when he places on a Retaliatory Tariff on the U.S., our Reciprocal Tariff will instantly improve by a like quantity!” he mentioned.
