Ontario Premier Agrees To Suspend Tax on Electricity Exports After Setting Meeting With Commerce Secretary To Discuss Tariffs

In a move that comes just hours after President Trump announced he would double tariffs to 50 percent on steel and aluminum from Canada, the premier of Ontario is temporarily suspending his 25 percent tax on electricity sent to Michigan, Minnesota, and New York and agreeing to meet with the U.S. Secretary of Commerce at Washington on Thursday. Doug Ford has become the face of the opposition to America’s new tariffs on Canadian goods, saying just recently that he would shut off power supplies to some northern American states “with a smile.” In response to Mr. Trump’s 25 percent tariffs on Canadian goods, Mr. Ford announced his own 25 percent electricity tax, leading the president to double his own tariffs. “Believe me when I say I do not want to do this, I feel terrible for the American people, because it’s not the American people who started this trade war. It’s one person who’s responsible. That’s President Trump,” Mr. Ford said at a recent press conference. “This will go into effect TOMORROW MORNING, March 12th,” Mr. Trump said in a post on Truth Social Tuesday, announcing the 50 percent tariffs. The president demanded that “Canada must immediately drop their Anti-American Farmer Tariff,” threatening to “permanently shut down the automobile manufacturing business in Canada” with additional tariffs set to come on April 2 if Canada does not lower its own trade barriers. Mr. Trump says additional tariffs will come on April 2 unless the Canadians relent. Mr. Ford and Secretary Lutnick say that they spoke after the president’s announcement on Tuesday, and set a meeting for Thursday at Washington to discuss the trade issues. In the meantime, Mr. Ford’s 25 percent electricity tax will be put on hold. “Today, United States Secretary of Commerce @howardlutnick and Premier of Ontario Doug Ford had a productive conversation about the economic relationship between the United States and Canada,” Mr. Ford’s staff wrote on his X account. “Secretary Lutnick agreed to officially meet with Premier Ford in Washington on Thursday, March 13 alongside the United States Trade Representative to discuss a renewed USMCA ahead of the 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,” the statement read. In a second Truth Social post on Tuesday, Mr. Trump took aim again at Mr. Ford for the 25 percent electricity tax. “Why would our Country allow another Country to supply us with electricity, even for a small area? Who made these decisions, and why?” Mr. Trump asked. “And can you imagine Canada stooping so low as to use ELECTRICITY, that so affects the life of innocent people, as a bargaining chip and threat? They will pay a financial price for this so big that it will be read about in History Books for many years to come!”White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt got into a heated argument on Tuesday from the briefing room podium when a reporter pressed her on how these tariffs will raise the costs of goods for American consumers, after Ms. Leavitt asserted that the 50 percent tariffs came simply because of Mr. Ford’s “egregious and insulting” plans to tax electricity exports. “Tariffs are a tax hike on foreign countries that, again, have been ripping us off. Tariffs are a tax cut for the American people,” Ms. Leavitt said in response to an Associate Press reporter who asked her about the inevitable price increases. “I think it’s insulting that you are trying to test my knowledge of economics and the decisions that this president has made. I now regret giving a question to the Associated Press.”Mr. Trump insists that the best way for the trade war to cease is for Canada to become America’s 51st state — something Canadians overwhelmingly oppose.“The only thing that makes sense is for Canada to become our cherished Fifty First State. This would make all Tariffs, and everything else, totally disappear. Canadians’ taxes will be very substantially reduced, they will be more secure, militarily and otherwise, than ever before, there would no longer be a Northern Border problem, and the greatest and most powerful nation in the World will be bigger, better and stronger than ever,” Mr. Trump wrote. The administration’s use of tariffs over the course of the last six weeks has caused turmoil in American markets. In the last month, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down more than seven percent, while the S&P 500 Index has dropped nearly eight percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq is down double-digits. The sell-off on Wall Street continued Tuesday. A former treasury secretary, Lawrence Summers, said Mr. Trump’s trade war with Canada is increasing the odds of an economic recession in America. “The just announced tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum are the worst trade policy yet. Increasing the price of key inputs for the US manufacturing industries — who employ 10 million people — is what a U.S. adversary would do,” Mr. Summers said in a social media post. “It is a self-inflicted wound to the U.S. economy that we cannot afford.”Mr. Trump has brushed off concerns about a possible recession, telling Fox News over the weekend that he doesn’t like to “predict” those kinds of things. “There is a period of transition,” the president said. The trade war’s impacts on Canada domestically is also having a profound effect, reviving Prime Minister Trudeau’s incumbent Liberal Party from the dead. On Sunday, the Liberals chose a new leader, Mark Carney, who will take office as prime minister this week before leading his party into the next general election. Mr. Carney dedicated a significant portion of his victory speech at the Liberal Party convention to railing against Mr. Trump and his new tariff regime. “There’s someone who’s trying to weaken our economy: Donald Trump,” Mr. Carney declared. “My government will keep our tariffs on until the Americans show us respect. … America is not Canada, and Canada will never, ever be a part of America in any way.”

Ontario Premier Agrees To Suspend Tax on Electricity Exports After Setting Meeting With Commerce Secretary To Discuss Tariffs

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