Canada Threatens to Cut Power to U.S. Over Trump Tariffs
Canada’s most populous province powered 1.5 million homes in the U.S. last year.
Aaron Chown - Pool/Getty Images
Canada’s most populous province has no plans to go gentle into that good night if Donald Trump follows through on his threat to impose massive tariffs on Canadian goods.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said his province was putting together a list of retaliatory measures and would go so far as to cut off energy exports to the U.S. if President-elect Trump slaps Canadian products with a 25 percent tax as promised, the AP reported.
“We will use every tool in our tool box to fight back,” Ford said Wednesday after a call with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other provincial premiers. “We can’t sit back and roll over. We just won’t as a country. And isn’t this a shame, our closest friends and allies.”
As a major exporter of electricity to Michigan, Minnesota and New York, Ontario powered 1.5 million U.S. homes last year, a spokeswoman for Ford told the AP. Trump’s transition team didn’t respond to the news agency’s request for comment.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford has been critical of Donald Trump's proposed tariffs on Canadian goods.
Screenshot/CNBC
It wasn’t clear if other provinces planned to follow Ontario’s lead, but the idea was discussed on the call, the spokeswoman said. About 60 percent of U.S. crude oil imports and 85 percent of electricity imports come from Canada.
Trump has promised to levy a 25 percent tax on products from Mexico and Canada unless the two countries stop illegal drugs from entering the U.S. and prevent illegal border crossings.
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Canada has agreed to ramp up border control efforts, but Ford said he thought the tariffs—which are paid by American companies, with the added costs passed on to consumers—were unavoidable.
Experts predict gas prices in the Midwest will jump by 30 cents per gallon if the tariffs do indeed take effect. Trump has promised to increase domestic drilling to keep gas prices down, but the U.S. doesn’t use the same type of oil that it produces.
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