Ontario Premier Doug Ford is threatening to cut power exports to the United States as Canada’s trade fight with President Donald Trump erupts once again.
Ford raised the stakes Monday after the U.S. imposed a 50% tariff on roughly $20 billion in Canadian goods following the collapse of trade negotiations.
“We power 1.5 million homes and businesses. Everything’s on the table. I’ll do whatever it takes,” Ford said at a news conference.
“You won’t get a grain of sand out of Ontario,” he added.
Ontario exports electricity to Michigan, New York and Minnesota through power connections running across the northern border. Ford also threatened to restrict U.S. access to the province’s critical minerals.
Ottawa had already announced plans to retaliate with tariffs of its own before Ford put Ontario’s energy and mineral exports on the table.
Trump fired back on Truth Social, calling Ford the “overall unimpressive brother of the late, great, Rob Ford,” the former Toronto mayor and city councilman who died in 2016.
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The president blamed Canada’s predicament on “bad leadership” from Prime Minister Mark Carney and “Flunky Ford.”
Trump urged the Canadian leaders to “fall in line,” prompting Ford to respond, “kiss my a‑‑.”
It is not the first time Ford has threatened to use Ontario’s power exports as leverage against the United States. He made a similar warning during a trade dispute last year before meeting with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and cooling tensions through bilateral talks.
Canadian Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre, meanwhile, urged officials to proceed carefully as the trade battle intensifies.
“As Canadians are vulnerable to an escalating trade war with the United States, Parliament must be reconvened. Canadians deserve answers on how trade talks collapsed, what tariffs will cost their families, and how their jobs will be protected,” Poilievre said Monday in a post on X.
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