The premier of Canada’s most populous province threatened to retaliate and cut off energy to the US “with a smile on my face” — as President Trump’s new 25% tariffs on imports took effect Tuesday.
“If they want to try to annihilate Ontario, I will do everything — including cut off their energy with a smile on my face,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford vowed Monday, the Toronto Sun reported.
“They rely on our energy, they need to feel the pain. They want to come at us hard, we’re going to come back twice as hard.”
The US is a major customer of Canada’s electricity.
Ontario alone powered 1.5 million homes in the US in 2023 and is a major exporter of electricity to New York, as well as other border states like Michigan and Minnesota.
The senior Canadian official’s threats to pull the plug on power came just hours before Trump’s tariff actions went live at 12:01 a.m.
It wasn’t immediately clear if the premier was talking about all Canadian provinces cutting off energy exports to the US — or just his province.
Ford doubled down, though, on a prior promise to match Trump’s 25% tax on all products entering the United States from Canada, Mexico and China dollar for dollar.
“I [didn’t] start this tariff war, but we’re going to win this tariff war,” Ford said.
“The provinces have a big say in it, but it’s the federal government that’s leading the charge, and we’re going to stand shoulder to shoulder no matter who’s in the federal government.”
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded immediately, saying the nation would launch 25% tariffs on C$30 billion — or US$20.7 billion — worth of US imports, including orange juice, peanut butter, wine, spirits, beer, coffee, appliances, apparel, footwear, motorcycles, cosmetics, and pulp and paper.
Canada would also slap tariffs on another C$125 billion of imports if Trump’s tariffs were still in place in 21 days, Trudeau said.
On Tuesday, the prime minister accused Trump of starting a trade war and insisted his country “will not back down.”
Ford is the brother of late former Toronto Mayor Rob Ford — the bombastic official who infamously appeared to be smoking crack cocaine in a 2013 video. He died of cancer in 2016.
With Post wires
