Ontario took a step back after US President Donald Trump escalated the tariff war Tuesday hiking steel and aluminum tariffs by 50 per cent. After stating to US media that he won’t back down, Ontario premier Doug Ford said he agreed to suspend the 25 per cent surcharge on electricity imports into three US states — New York, Michigan and Minnesota — after his conversation with US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick.
In a statement issued with Lutnick and posted on X, Ford said he and Lutnick would now be meeting Thursday alongside the United States Trade Representative to discuss a renewal of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade act ahead of Trump’s self-imposed April 2 “reciprocal tariff deadline.”
“In response, Ontario agreed to suspend its 25 per cent surcharge on exports of electricity to Michigan, New York and Minnesota,” Ford said.
Hours earlier, Ford blamed Trump for this unprovoked war and apologized to the Americans as he said he would not back down.
New tariff war between US-Canada
Trump posted on Truth Social earlier Tuesday that steel and aluminum tariffs would go from 25 per cent to 50 per cent starting Wednesday in retaliation to Ontario’s electricity surcharge. Trump questioned why the US states should depend on Canada for electricity and said that he would be declaring a national emergency for the three states Ontario targeted with electricity shutdown.
Flanked by Elon Musk, son X, Donald Trump issues statement after Canada caves
President Donald Trump issued a statement after Doug Ford backed down and withdrew the electricity surcharge. Calling Doug a very strong man, Donald Trump said he was informed that they were not going ahead with the surcharge. “It would’ve been a very bad thing if he did, but he’s not going to do that. So I respect that,” Trump said as Elon Musk and his son X flanked him.
