Canadian province vows to retaliate if Washington hikes tariffs

The head of Ontario, Doug Ford, has warned that the Canadian province could stop supplying electricity to the US if President-elect Donald Trump follows through on his threat to impose sweeping tariffs on Canadian products.

The Republican has vowed to impose a 25% tariff on all goods coming from Canada and Mexico unless the neighboring nations stem the flow of illegal migrants and drugs into the US.

Speaking to reporters following a virtual meeting with other provincial and territorial leaders as well as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday, Ford said: “We will go to the full extent depending how far this goes. We will go to the extent of cutting off their energy, going down to Michigan, going down to New York State and over to Wisconsin.” The official added that he did not “want this to happen, but my number one job is to protect Ontario, Ontarians and Canadians as a whole.”

Ford revealed that Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland would compile a list of items that the country could levy retaliatory tariffs on. “Let’s see what happens as we move forward. But we’ll use every tool in our toolbox, including cutting them off energy that we’re sending down there,” the Ontario premier reiterated.

According to Ford, the US president-elect appears serious about imposing sweeping tariffs on Canadian goods, with Trump “being a little more aggressive than he was in the past.”

Reacting to Trump’s claims that fentanyl is crossing into the US from Canada, Ottawa has pledged to beef up border security with “more boots on the ground.”

The Associated Press has quoted a spokeswoman for Ford, Grace Lee, as noting that Ontario powered 1.5 million households in the US last year, and is a major exporter of electricity to Michigan, Minnesota and New York.

According to the media outlet’s estimates, some 85% of US electricity imports come from the north.

In a post on his Truth Social platform last month, Trump wrote that “thousands of people are pouring through Mexico and Canada, bringing crime and drugs at levels never seen before.” In order to force authorities in Mexico City and Ottawa to tackle these issues, the threat of prohibitive import duties is warranted, he argued.

Appearing on NBC News’ ‘Meet the Press’ on Sunday, Trump doubled down on his threats.

“We’re subsidizing Canada to the tune over $100 billion a year. We’re subsidizing Mexico for almost $300 billion. We shouldn’t be – why are we subsidizing these countries? If we’re going to subsidize them, let them become a state,” Trump charged.