Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he was “shocked” that Canada was not part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s 90-day reciprocal tariff pause and said Canada and the U.S. are not currently negotiating to settle the costly rift.
Ford made the remarks on CNN Thursday morning, the day after Trump prompted a temporary market bounce by announcing the pause on reciprocal tariffs while keeping a base 10 per cent levy on nearly all global imports.
During the same hasty announcement made on his Truth Social platform, the president also hiked tariffs on Chinese imports to 125 per cent.
Despite some initial ambiguity about Canada’s status in the situation, the White House later confirmed that 25 per cent fentanyl-related tariffs, as well as 25 per cent levies on automobiles, steel, and aluminum against Canada, would remain in place.
“We were shocked that we weren’t part of the group [given a pause],” Ford told CNN. “We are both each other’s number one customer, and we need to get through this and bring certainty back to the people of the United States and Canada, certainty to the markets.”
“The reality is a tariff on Canada is a tax on Americans, and that’s the last thing we want to see on the American people.”
Canada responded to Trump’s levies by imposing similar tariffs on vehicles imported from the United States.
When asked by host Wolf Blitzer if he felt the Trump was punishing Canada for fighting back with its own tariffs, Ford reminded Blitzer that it was Trump who threw the first punch in the escalating economic brawl.
“We didn’t start this,” Ford said. “President Trump aimed at Canada and the rest of the world for the most part. We’ll drop our tariffs tomorrow if President Trump drops his tariffs.”
When asked if Canada would consider backing down first to help repair the relationship, Ford seemed open to the idea but cautious.
“As long as we know the tariffs are going to be dropped against Canada as well. If we have a mutual understanding, if they feel comfortable with us going first, by all means, but we need assurance that President Trump will drop the tariffs shortly after we do.”
In the meantime, Ford said Canadians are at a “fever pitch” over the trade war, actively boycotting American products and avoiding travel to the U.S.
“We know the border traffic has gone down dramatically, flights going into the U.S. have dropped dramatically. Isn’t that unfortunate?”
He also said Canada was making moves to bolster its own manufacturing as a result of Trump’s actions.
He cited examples of steel beams and beer cans, two products that Canada outsources but is now looking to manufacture on home soil.
“We ship in about $6.5 billion of steel, but we don’t make steel beams, they all come the U.S. and other areas around the world, now we are gonna go out and start making steel beams.”
“We don’t make the beer cans; we ship the aluminum to the U.S., and a [American] company [makes them]. That’s a billion-dollar industry we are onshoring back to Ontario. It’s not good for both sides of the border.”
Negotiations with the United States are also being stalled as Canada waits to elect its new Prime Minister on April 28.
Ford confirmed that Canada and the U.S. are not currently negotiating.
“Not right now, we aren’t,” Ford said. “Hopefully, we get back to the table and continue negotiating.”
