Ahead of Tuesday’s U.S. presidential election, Premier Doug Ford is warning that protectionism would hurt Ontario, America’s third-largest trading partner.
Ford — who has expressed concern about the threat by former president Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, to slap hefty tariffs on foreign goods and services — underscored the importance of trade between the province and U.S. states.
“Regardless of the outcome of this week’s elections, we stand ready to work with our partners south of the border,” the premier said in a statement Monday.
“Above all, we must avoid falling into a ‘Buy Canada’ or ‘Buy America’ mindset that would jeopardize our existing trading relationship and instead adopt a ‘Buy Can-Am’ mindset that creates new jobs and opportunities for workers and businesses on both sides of the border,” he said.
That was a pitch Ford used in June with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who is now Vice-President Kamala Harris‘s running mate on the Democratic ticket.
While the premier has stressed he is remaining neutral in the contest between Harris and Trump, he said in August he “was happy as punch to see the governor nominated as … (her) running mate.”
“We tossed the football around a little bit in my office — we gave him a CFL football,” the premier said, noting their friendly, closed-door meeting focused on trade.
“He understands that. We’re stronger together.”
Ontario is the largest trading partner to 17 states and the second-largest to another 11 states with two-way trade worth $493 billion last year. Only Canada and Mexico do more trade with the U.S.
“As Americans prepare to vote in this week’s elections, it’s more important than ever to preserve and build on our longstanding ties of friendship, trade and co-operation that unite Canada and the United States,” the premier said in his Monday statement.
“Together, we can support the millions of workers on both sides of the border whose paycheques and livelihoods rely on this critical relationship,” added Ford.
“As we work to build stronger economic ties with our closest ally and the largest economy in the world, Canada must remain aligned with U.S. trade policy, like we did by matching American tariffs on Chinese imports of electric vehicles and steel,” he said, reiterating his call for Ottawa to hold off on its planned 3 per cent tax on American services like Google, Netflix and Amazon.
“Similarly, I continue to urge the federal government to delay the implantation of the digital services tax, which is putting Canadian jobs at risk.”
At the Council of the Federation meeting of the premiers in Halifax in July, Ford rallied his fellow provincial and territorial leaders against U.S. tariffs.
But in a July interview with the Star’s Kristin Rushowy, he conceded he himself has promoted protectionism in the past.
“I’m first to admit, I’m probably the worst culprit when I told governors ‘buy Ontario, buy Ontario’ — but I think we are changing the language with the U.S. governors now.”
In the past year, Ontario made new “economic co-operation agreements” with Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Nevada and New Jersey.
