Trump threatens Canada once again
President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened a sharp escalation in the budding trade war with Canada in retaliation for Ontario’s export surcharge on US electricity.
MNA- President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened a sharp escalation in the budding trade war with Canada in retaliation for Ontario’s export surcharge on US electricity.
Stocks immediately tumbled after Trump’s Truth Social post announcing his latest tariff threat before paring some losses. The Nasdaq Composite ticked into the green, up 0.3%, while the S&P 500 and Dow remained in negative territory, down 0.3% and 0.8%, respectively, CNN reported.
Trump said he would respond in kind to Ontario’s 25% surcharge on electricity to New York, Minnesota and Michigan with a 25% tariff on Canadian electricity. That could increase costs even more for Americans, particularly in northern states that rely on energy from Canada. Ontario’s surcharge, announced Monday, threatens to increase bills by $100 a month, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said.
In addition, Trump said he would levy even larger tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum than he had planned Wednesday.
“Based on Ontario, Canada, placing a 25% Tariff on ‘Electricity’ coming into the United States, I have instructed my Secretary of Commerce to ad an ADDITIONAL 25% Tariff, to 50%, on all STEEL and ALUMINUM COMING INTO THE UNITED STATES FROM CANADA, ONE OF THE HIGHEST TARIFFING NATIONS ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD,” Trump said in a social media post Tuesday.
Ford threatened to shut off electricity supply to the US entirely.
Trump also said he would declare a national electricity emergency in the states Ontario targeted. “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?” Trump said in a Truth Social post on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, he threatened to “substantially” increase tariffs on cars coming into the United States from Canada starting on April 2.
The president said those autos tariffs “will, essentially, permanently shut down the automobile manufacturing business in Canada. Those cars can easily be made in the USA!”
The announcement comes ahead of a midnight deadline for when Trump threatened to impose 25% tariffs across all steel and aluminum imports.
Another looming threat: A 250% tariff on dairy products from Canada, which the president announced on Friday, though he has yet to finalize anything. Trump said the tariff would be in response to Canada’s taxes on American dairy products, which can be as high as 241% in the case of milk.
In an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Tuesday, Ford said such tariffs get “under (Trump’s) skin,” but said it’s all the more reason why he thinks Trump should want to “sit down and talk about it.”
