U.S. President Donald Trump issued numerous threats aimed at Ontario and Canada on Tuesday after the province imposed a surcharge on electricity flowing south of the border.
In a series of meandering posts to his Truth Social platform, Trump said Ontario “will pay a financial price for this so big that it will be read about in History Books for many years to come!”
He went on to accuse Canada of “stooping so low as to use ELECTRICITY, that so affects the life of innocent people, as a bargaining chip and threat” in the trade war his administration started.
Those comments came shortly after an earlier post in which Trump said he’ll double tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum starting Wednesday in response to Ontario’s electricity levy.
“Based on Ontario, Canada, placing a 25% Tariff on “Electricity” coming into the United States, I have instructed my Secretary of Commerce to add an ADDITIONAL 25% Tariff, to 50%, on all STEEL and ALUMINUM COMING INTO THE UNITED STATES FROM CANADA, ONE OF THE HIGHEST TARIFFING NATIONS ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD,” Trump wrote.
He also said he would declare a “National Emergency on Electricity” within the American regions impacted by Ontario’s electricity levity, presumably referring to New York, Michigan and Minnesota — three states that purchase power from the province.
Trump then launched into a lengthy rant about the U.S. annexing Canada to make it “our cherished Fifty First State.”
On Monday, Premier Doug Ford announced the province would impose a 25 per cent surcharge on Ontario-generated electricity purchased by American states.
Ontario provides power to roughly 1.5 million U.S.-based customers. The province estimates the levy will generate up to $400,000 per day, depending on the season. That money will be used to reduce power bills for ratepayers in Ontario, according to the Ministry of Energy.
Ford also repeated his threat to entirely cut off the flow of electricity from Ontario to the U.S., a process that would likely require the province to significantly ramp down its own power generation.
Trump’s latest volleys come after he initially reacted to Ford’s move in a late night post, again on Truth Social.
“Ontario just announced a 25% surcharge on “electricity,” of all things, and your not even allowed to do that,” he wrote.
It is not entirely clear what Trump meant by saying Ontario is “not even allowed to do that.”
“Because our Tariffs are reciprocal, we’ll just get it all back on April 2. Canada is a Tariff abuser, and always has been, but the United States is not going to be subsidizing Canada any longer. We don’t need your Cars, we don’t need your Lumber, we don’t your Energy, and very soon, you will find that out,” he posted Monday night.
CBC’s Lorenda Reddekopp breaks down how Doug Ford’s plan to impose a levy on electricity could affect the U.S.
Trump launched a trade war against Canada shortly after taking office, despite a longstanding economic, cultural and military alliance between the neighbouring nations. His administration has said it will impose 25 per cent tariffs on most Canadian goods and 10 per cent on energy.
Amid intensely negative stock market reaction, Trump temporarily paused implementation of the tariffs on Canadian exports “compliant” with the terms of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) until April 2.
The Trump administration’s policy targeting Canadian goods comes despite CUSMA being a free trade agreement that Trump himself spearheaded and, a few years ago, called “the best and most important trade deal ever made by the USA.”
Both Ontario and the federal government have said they will move ahead with retaliatory measures until the tariffs are entirely off the table.
In addition to the surcharge, Ontario has taken American booze off LCBO shelves and banned U.S. companies from government procurement contracts, while the federal government has imposed an initial round of retaliatory tariffs on $30 billion worth of U.S. goods.
