Ontario Premier Doug Ford has reiterated that he is open to cutting off energy exports to the United States, as the country prepared to place 25 percent tariffs on Canada.
“If they want to try to annihilate Ontario, I will do everything, including cut off their energy with a smile on my face,” Ford told reporters in Toronto on March 3.
“Out east, 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.”
U.S. President Donald Trump said on March 3 that 25 percent tariffs will be levied against Canada and Mexico beginning on March 4, and that there is “no room” for last-minute negotiations to prevent them from being implemented. In justifying the tariffs, Trump said there was still “vast amounts of fentanyl” coming into the United States from the two countries.
Ford said he had spoken to many U.S. senators and governors, and not “one single American” said they thought the U.S. tariffs were a good idea. “Who attacks their largest customer, and they’re our largest customer? It doesn’t make sense,” he said.
The premier said the U.S. tariffs amount to a “tax on Americans” and that he would be repeating that message on American news networks like NBC, CNN, and Fox News. “I’m going to be hammering the airwaves to get that message to the Americans. They’re going to get hurt. It’s the wrong decision.”
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Ford also gave a message directly to Trump, saying he would fight “tooth and nail” against the tariffs. “I’ll fight right to the death, not that there’s going to be any deaths,” he said.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNN on March 3 that while he‘ll be telling Trump that Canada and Mexico have “done a good job on the border,” he’ll also be telling the president that “they haven’t done enough on fentanyl.”
Energy Cutoff
Ford first threatened to cut off electricity exports to the U.S. states of Michigan, New York, and Minnesota on Nov. 11, saying the move would be made “depending on how far this goes.” He reiterated on Nov. 12 that this would be a “last resort measure.”
According to Statistics Canada, Ontario was the largest Canadian provider of electricity to the United States in 2023, exporting 13.9 million megawatt-hours of electricity south of the border.
Shortly after Ford made that threat, the premiers of Alberta, Quebec, and Newfoundland came out against the idea. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said that “under no circumstances will Alberta agree to cut off oil and gas exports,” and that her province was taking a diplomatic approach.
Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey said the province had “no interest in stopping the flow of oil and gas … to the United States,” while Quebec Premier François Legault said he preferred come to a diplomatic agreement rather than “starting a war and stopping sending energy to the United States.”
When asked about implementing such a measure in January, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said the federal government had not ruled out any responses to the tariffs, and that “everything is on the table.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said that Ottawa will retaliate with its own 25 percent tariffs on $155 billion (US$107 billion) worth of American products should the United States proceed with tariffs on Canada.
