Fiery Ontario Premier Threatens to Cut Off Exports Over Trump Tariffs on CNN: U.S. Market Going ‘Down Faster Than the American Bobsled Team’
Ontario Premier Doug Ford offered an apology to the American people as he threatened to cut off electricity exports to the United States and use other “tools” to combat President Donald Trump’s 25% tariff on Canada.
Ford joined CNN’s John Berman on Tuesday after publicly saying he would cut off exports to the U.S. “with a smile on my face.” Ford argued Canadians are “livid” and “have to retaliate.”
Trump has repeatedly threatened Canada with a 25% trade tariff, something that has led to uncertainty in the markets and in the auto industry and elsewhere. U.S. stocks continued tumbling downward this week, something Ford argued will only continue. Trump claimed this week there is “no room left” for negotiations on his promised tariffs.
Ford said Canada has a “great relationship” with the U.S. that it wants to continue and argued that the trade deals already in place are “very fair.”
Ford said:
Canadians love Americans. We love the U.S. It’s one person that’s causing these problems. I’ve talked to senators and Congress people and governors, Republicans and Democrats, not one of them agree with him. I’ve talked to business CEOs of the largest companies. They totally disagree with us. And President Trump ran on a mandate to lower costs, to create more jobs. This is going to do exactly the opposite. The auto sector, we buy over 400% more autos than Mexico, 200% more than anywhere in the world. And you know, he put up a smoke screen. He keeps moving the goalposts. Well, the market is speaking loud and clear. The market is going to go downhill faster than the American bobsled team. And we’re going to continue seeing in the U.S. plants closing, assembly lines shut down. In the auto sector, they may last five, maybe eight, eight days before the parts that go back and forth across the border eight times. This is unnecessary. And we do have to retaliate, and I apologize to the American people. It’s not you, it’s your president that’s causing this problem.
“I will use every tool in our toolbox to send a message to President Trump that this is the wrong thing to do,” he added.
Ford continued by arguing Trump’s tariff threats have fed into the exact poor economy that he was elected to fix.
He said:
We have the lowest debt in the G7. The United States has more debt than anyone. He wants to come and get a tax break, put a tax break through. He’s relying on two Congress people. He loses two people, that’s it. These tax breaks aren’t going. And he’s doing this on the backs of the American people. He’s going to create job losses, inflation’s going up, the market’s dropping, gas prices are going up, groceries are going up. For what? We have a very fair trading balance. And if we exclude the energy, the oil that we ship down 4.3 million barrels a day to keep cars going, the U.S. has a $55 billion surplus on everything else, on manufacturing. And I’m fine with that. $55 billion is fine.
Ford also noted that Trump’s tariff talk and open pining for Canada to become the 51st state have led to a backlash among the Canadian public that’s created a “patriotism” he’s never seen before.
“I’ve never seen patriotism run so wild across our country, right down to the grocery aisles. People refuse to buy American products. This is not right. We love America. We love the people,” he said. “And the president needs to be stopped.”
Watch above via CNN.
