In response to the tariffs President Donald Trump put this week on Canadian imports, Ontario's premier announced his provincial government will on Monday add 25 per cent to the price of electricity it flows to the United States.
Premier Doug Ford offered the update on Thursday before Trump announced a temporary partial backtrack on some of the tariffs he put in place two days earlier. The president’s move won’t affect the Ford government’s plan, however, with the premier telling journalists that the energy surcharge will remain in place "until (Trump) drops the tariffs completely."
On Tuesday, Trump implemented a blanket 25-per cent tariff on Canadian imports to the U.S., save for energy, which was subject to a 10 per cent tariff.
On Wednesday, he granted a one-month exemption of most of the auto tariffs he had put in place.
On Thursday, the president announced that, until April 2, U.S. tariffs wouldn’t apply to goods covered by the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), the trade deal he, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexico’s then-president signed in 2018. American media outlets briefed by a Trump administration official about the temporary reprieve have reported that, according to the unnamed White House official, about 62 per cent of Canadian exports to the U.S. will continue to be covered by the 25 per cent tariff.
In response on Tuesday, Trudeau’s federal government imposed counter-tariffs on certain imports from the U.S. that amount to about $30 billion worth of goods, annually. The Trudeau government has announced its intention to widen the scope of Canada's tariffs to cover $155 billion-worth of goods if the U.S. tariffs stay in place.
"Isn't this a shame? This whole thing with President Trump is an absolute mess," Ford said to reporters at the Ontario legislature on Thursday.
The premier had previously announced the electricity plan, albeit without an implementation date. On Tuesday, Ford also said his government would cancel a $100-million contract it struck with Starlink, Elon Musk's satellite internet service, and that it would also ban "U.S.-based" companies from being bidders on Ontario government procurement projects.
Ontario produces the second-most electricity of all the provinces, behind only Quebec, and has interconnections with Minnesota, New York and Michigan. The 25 per cent surcharge that the Ford government plans to add to the province's electricity exports to the U.S. on Monday will apply to energy headed to all three states, Ford said. Electricity Ontario ships to Minnesota, New York and Michigan is enough to power roughly 1.5 million homes, according to Ford.
"We're going to make sure that we follow through with what we said we were going to do, until we get a deal," Ontario's premier said on Thursday.
"We need to get this deal done. That's the bottom line," Ford added.
This story was updated after Trump signed the executive orders.
