Premier Doug Ford is jetting off to Washington to promote free trade and lobby against U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canadian products.
With the looming July 1 deadline for a mandatory review of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) that covers about 85 per cent of trade, Ford is hosting a reception Monday with Ross Perot Jr.
The billionaire son of former U.S. presidential candidate Ross Perot is the chair of the United States Chamber of Commerce, the world’s largest business organization, which has opposed Trump’s tariffs.
“We’re going to get down there, we’re going to send that message about … working together, working with Mexico, working with the U.S. and working with Canada to get this deal,” Ford said earlier this week.
The premier will also meet with other American business leaders on Monday and is to sit down behind closed doors Tuesday with U.S. lawmakers and Trump administration officials.
“Premier Ford will never stop fighting for Canada. As part of his long-standing efforts to make the case against American tariffs and protectionism, Premier Ford will be travelling to Washington for two days,” said Hannah Jensen, his director of media relations.
Jensen said Friday that the premier will “meet with elected officials and business leaders to launch Fortress North America — a bold vision for how Canada, the U.S. and Mexico can work together to lower costs, create a jobs boom, and protect our shared security.”
That builds upon the Fortress Am-Can push he promoted in Washington in January 2025, which was focused on Canada and the U.S. and excluded Mexico.
The premier will be spending a lot of time stateside in the coming months ahead of the U.S. midterm elections in November that polls suggest could be bad for Trump’s Republicans.
A fixture on U.S. cable new channels where he reminds viewers that tariffs are a tax on American consumers because they raise the price of Canadian goods, Ford will be taking that message to two conferences of state governors in the coming weeks.
He will be in Greenville, South Carolina from June 21-23 for the Southeastern United States-Canadian Provinces Conference.
That is expected to include the premiers of Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island and the governors of Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.
A week later, Ford will fly to the Western Governors’ Association annual meeting in Deer Valley, Utah, which goes from June 30 until July 2.
That influential organization is made up of the governors of 22 states and U.S. territories, including the economic titans of California, Texas, Washington and Arizona.
