United States President Donald Trump is again talking about Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s threat to cut power to three northern states, suggesting America may not want to buy Canadian power at all.
A tense Tuesday of escalating tension between Ford and Trump saw tariff threats traded, before an “olive branch” from the White House in the form of a meeting and Trump calling Ford a “strong man.”
On Wednesday, Trump again mused about Ontario — this time dismissing the short-lived threat to add a surcharge to electricity and saying his threat of 50 per cent tariff on steel and aluminum had shut it down.
“We had a problem with Ontario and they dropped that,” Trump said. “We let them know what we were going to be doing, they dropped it immediately. Electricity, you shouldn’t be playing with electricity, it affects people’s lives here.”
The president went on to suggest the United States should not have had to rely on Ontario for electricity in the first place — the opposite of the pitch Ford has been touting for months.
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“It doesn’t make sense that our country allows electricity to be made in another country and sold into us,” Trump mused. “Who did that deal for the United States? (I) looked at that long ago, (and) said that’s not something that’s very smart.”
The suggestion the United States may look to move away from Ontario’s energy supply would be a blow to Ford’s central strategy for U.S.-Canada relations.
For months, the premier has been touting a plan he has branded as Fortress Am-Can.
The strategy revolves around increasing the sale of Ontario’s critical minerals to the United States, working together on land and water security and increasing the electricity produced in Ontario and used south of the border.
As recently as Monday, Ford reiterated his desire to increase energy trade with the U.S.
“I’d rather be working together; I want to sell the U.S. more energy, more electricity, more critical minerals,” Ford told reporters. “I want to make Canada and the United States the richest, most successful, safest, most secure two countries on the planet.”
Ford heads to Washington, D.C., on Thursday along with federal Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc for a meeting with Trump’s top economic advisers.
The meeting, which Ford said was offered to him by the White House, is a chance for the premier to make his case for increasing energy trade and reducing the number of tariffs levelled on Canada by the White House.
Ontario is partly susceptible to the impacts of tariffs on goods imported into the U.S. from Canada. Before and during the election Ford said he would have to spend tens of billions of dollars to stimulate the economy if tariffs hit.
Tariffs on automakers, for example, would hit Ontario hardest with several major manufacturing hubs and suppliers across the southwest of the province.
While making the case for a closer trading relationship with the U.S., Ford has also said he will work to make interprovincial trade easier.
He has also said the province needs to build new trade relationships with other countries.