Premier Doug Ford says he expects to see some changes to tariffs announced on Canadian vehicles crossing the border into the United States, but that yet-to-be-taken action won’t be enough to prevent retaliation.
The premier said he had a 25-minute conversation with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick Wednesday night after he and other Canadian officials were blindsided when President Donald Trump announced a 25-per cent tariff on all foreign-made cars and light trucks.
The executive order signed on Wednesday specifies that vehicles covered under the United States-Mexico-Canada Free Trade Agreement (USMCA) will be taxed on the value of their “non-U.S. content.”
Ford told reporters on Thursday that he was given greater detail as to how that part of the executive order could be carried out. He said he was told that vehicles with more than 50 per cent American parts crossing the border from Canada will not be subject to tariffs.
Those that have less will be subject to a 12.5-per cent tariff, “which in my opinion is not good at all,” the premier said. It’s unclear when, and if, these changes will actually come to fruition.
“He's reassuring us that there'll be no plant closures,” Ford said of his call with Lutnick. “I don't believe it, in my opinion, but we have to work with them and make sure that we do everything in our powers to keep these plants moving, keep them up and going.”
Ford said it’s not up to Lutnick whether a plant closes — it’ll be up to the CEOs to decide. The premier’s office is meeting with Canadian auto sector CEOs on Monday.
Ford said he had a conversation with Prime Minister Mark Carney earlier in the day and agreed that retaliation is necessary, but only after April 2, when Canada learns the impact of the additional reciprocal U.S. tariffs promised by Trump — a day the U.S. president has called “Liberation Day.”
Canadian premiers will be meeting with Carney on Friday, and the prime minister told Hill reporters he expects a phone call from Trump “in the course of the next day or two.”
Speaking in Ottawa, Carney didn’t reveal the details of his retaliatory plans, saying only that it “will have maximum impact in the United States and minimum impacts here in Canada.”
“We’re going to know a lot more in a week, and we will respond then,” he said. “In a negotiation, it doesn’t make sense to tip your hand and say what you’re going to do going forward.”
