The leader of Canada’s largest province says he will cut off energy supplies to the United States if Trump imposes sweeping tariffs on all the country’s products.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford, a member of the country’s opposition Tory party, spoke about his province and country’s plan to fight back after meeting with Trudeau and his other colleagues.
“We’re going to put together our list, and I’m sure the other provinces will do the same. But we will go to extremes depending on how far this goes. We’re going to the point of shutting off their energy,” Ford said.
Trump has threatened to impose a 25 percent tax on all products entering the US from Canada Mexico unless they stem the flow of migrants and drugs.
He has also spent a lot of time trolling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau since their meeting at Mar-a-Lago after Thanksgiving, with Trump joking that he would make Canada the 51st state.
Ford — whose province includes Canada’s largest city Toronto and the capital Ottawa — added he didn’t want that to happen but wasn’t optimistic Canada could avoid tariffs.
“This fight will 100 percent take place on January 20 or 21,” he said, referring to the date of Trump’s inauguration.
“We will use every tool in our toolbox to fight back. We can’t sit back and roll over. We simply won’t do that as a country. And isn’t this a shame, our dear friends and allies.’
Doug Ford, the leader of Canada’s largest province, said Wednesday he will cut off energy supplies to the United States if Donald Trump imposes sweeping tariffs on all the country’s products.
Trump has threatened to impose a 25 percent tax on all products entering the US from Canada and Mexico unless they stem the flow of migrants and drugs
About 60 percent of U.S. crude oil imports come from Canada, as do 85 percent of U.S. electricity imports.
It was not immediately clear whether Ford was referring to all Canadian provinces suspending energy exports to the U.S. or just his province. But a Ford spokeswoman, Grace Lee, said it came up in the phone call between Trudeau and the provincial premiers.
“Premier Ford can only speak for Ontario, but it is an area of provincial jurisdiction we would certainly look into,” Lee said in an email.
Lee noted that Ontario supplied electricity to 1.5 million U.S. homes by 2023 and is a major exporter of electricity to Michigan, Minnesota and New York.
Trump’s transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the threat.
Canada is also the largest foreign supplier of steel, aluminum and uranium to the US and has 34 critical minerals and metals that the Pentagon covets and invests in for national security.
“Canada will of course respond to unjustified tariffs,” Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said after the meeting.
Freeland said a number of provincial premiers have expressed support for a strong response to the tariffs and that this includes critical minerals exported to the US.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford – a member of the country’s opposition Tory party – spoke about his province and country’s plan to fight back after meeting with Trudeau and his other counterparts
Most recently, it was President-elect Trump who was trolling towards his counterpart in the North after a rally at Mar-a-Lago in late November
She did not mention oil specifically, but said “obviously other ideas were discussed” when asked if Canada was considering halting oil exports to America.
About a third of Canadian trade to the US is energy.
Nearly $3.6 billion Canadian (US$2.7 billion) worth of goods and services cross the border every day. Canada is the main export destination for 36 US states.
Canada has promised more spending on border security to address Trump’s concerns. Ford said this will include more border and police officers, as well as drones and sniffer dogs.
“A priority will be to share details of this plan with the new Trump administration and with Canadians in the coming days,” Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said.
Trudeau said this week that the tariffs would be “absolutely devastating” for the Canadian economy, but that it would also mean real hardship for Americans.
Economists say companies have little choice but to pass on the extra costs, dramatically raising prices for food, clothing, cars, alcohol and other goods.
The Produce Distributors Association, a Washington-based trade group, has said tariffs will raise prices for fresh fruits and vegetables and hurt U.S. farmers if the countries retaliate.
Elon Musk called Justin Trudeau an ‘insufferable tool’ after the Canadian prime minister called Donald Trump’s re-election a setback for women’s rights
Canada imposed tariffs on the US in 2018 in response to new taxes on Canadian steel and aluminum.
Canada’s central bank, meanwhile, cut its key interest rate by half a percentage point on Wednesday and called Trump’s threat to impose sweeping new tariffs on Canada “a major source of new uncertainty.”
“We have underscored that the threat of new tariffs on Canadian exports, especially at the proposed level, is a significant source of new uncertainty,” Bank of Canada Tiff Macklem said at a news conference. ‘But the reality is that we don’t know whether these tariffs will be implemented.
“We don’t know if waivers will be agreed on some parts, we don’t know at what level, we don’t know if Canada will retaliate.”
Trudeau, meanwhile, caught the attention of billionaire Elon Musk, a major Trump supporter, with comments he made on Tuesday complaining that American voters chose Trump over Kamala Harris for president.
The relationship between the liberal Trudeau and the conservative Trump has been a source of fascination in recent weeks, with the pair having a seemingly friendly Mar-a-Lago meeting followed by Trump’s continued jokes that Canada should become the 51st state.
However, the relationship between Trudeau and new DOGE co-chair Musk has been simpler and more tense, with Musk previously comparing Trudeau to Hitler.
Trudeau reignited Musk’s ire on Wednesday when an anti-Trump speech he made went viral.
“We were meant to make a steady, if sometimes difficult, march towards progress. And yet, just a few weeks ago, the United States voted for the second time not to elect its first female president,” Trudeau said in Ottawa on Tuesday.
The speech was brought to Musk’s attention on his social media platform X, where he gave a cheeky preview of Trudeau’s future.
“He’s such an insufferable instrument. I won’t be in power much longer,” Musk said.
Ford also criticized Trudeau for the comments.
‘They are not helpful at all. It came up a few times during our meeting,” Ford said.
‘Donald Trump was democratically elected. Whether you like him or not is not our issue. We choose Canadians and it didn’t help at all. I’m sure the Prime Minister got the message loud and clear.”