Trump said he would declare a national emergency on electricity.
President Donald Trump has reacted to Ontario’s decision to impose a 25 percent surcharge on all electricity exports to the United States, saying he will double the steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada set to come into force on March 12.
Trump took to social media several hours after Doug Ford, the premier of Canada’s Ontario province, went ahead with imposing a 25 percent export tariff on electricity his province provides to New York, Michigan, and Minnesota on March 10. The Ontario surcharge was put in place in response to the tariffs the U.S. president has enacted on Canadian products, Ford said.
The electricity tariff will be paid by utility providers in the three states, netting the province an estimated $300,000 to $400,000 per day, Ford said during a March 10 press conference, noting that the tariff will add roughly $100 per month to the bills of 1.5 million American households and businesses.
Trump described Canada as a “tariff abuser” and vowed his country would stop “subsidizing Canada” in his March 10 Truth Social post.
“Despite the fact that Canada is charging the USA from 250% to 390% Tariffs on many of our farm products, Ontario just announced a 25% surcharge on ‘electricity,’ of all things, and your not even allowed to do that,” Trump wrote. “Because our Tariffs are reciprocal, we’ll just get it all back on April 2.”
In a subsequent social media post on March 11, Trump said he will add an additional 25 percent onto the steel and aluminum tariffs from Canada, boosting it to 50 percent. Trump had previously announced a 25 percent tariff on all steel and aluminum imports into the United States, including those from Canada, starting on March 12.
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“This will go into effect TOMORROW MORNING, March 12th,” Trump wrote. “Also, Canada must immediately drop their Anti-American Farmer Tariff of 250% to 390% on various U.S. dairy products, which has long been considered outrageous.”
Trump said he would declare a national emergency on electricity “within the threatened area” to allow him to “do what has to be done to alleviate this abusive threat from Canada.”
“If other egregious, long time Tariffs are not likewise dropped by Canada, I will substantially increase, on April 2nd, the Tariffs on Cars coming into the U.S. which will, essentially, permanently shut down the automobile manufacturing business in Canada,” he added. “Those cars can easily be made in the USA!”
Trump has repeatedly said over the past few months that the United States does not need Canadian products or resources and has accused the country of taking advantage of the United States.
His March 10 post offered up similar sentiments.
“We don’t need your Cars, we don’t need your Lumber, we don’t [need] your Energy, and very soon, you will find that out,” he said.
Ford has vowed that his government will remain steadfast against U.S. tariffs, and emphasized that Ontario has the ability to adjust the 25 percent surcharge as necessary, or even cut off energy exports, in response to actions taken by the Trump administration.
“U.S. markets are tumbling because of President Trump’s tariffs. Prices are going up for hardworking Americans,” Ford wrote in a March 11 social media post. “He needs to drop the tariffs now, for good. Until he does, Ontario will stand firm.”
Ford said during the March 10 press conference that decisions to lower, raise, or “shut the electricity off completely” will be contingent upon the actions taken by Trump in the weeks ahead. He also said that the electricity surcharge could impact more than New York, Michigan, and Minnesota because when the three states have a surplus, they sell it to neighboring states like Ohio or Pennsylvania.
Ford has also urged the premier of Alberta Danielle Smith to put export tariffs on her province’s oil and gas exports to the United States, which she has rejected.
“There are much more effective ways Alberta and Canada can work together to persuade the U.S. to change course on their unjustified and self-defeating tariff strategy against Canada without throwing tens of thousands of Albertans and Canadians out of work,” Smith said on March 10.
51st State
In his March 11 social media post, Trump once again repeated his comments that he wants Canada to be a part of the United States, which Canadian officials have strongly rebuked.
“Canada pays very little for National Security, relying on the United States for military protection. We are subsidizing Canada to the tune of more than 200 Billion Dollars a year. WHY??? This cannot continue. The only thing that makes sense is for Canada to become our cherished Fifty First State,” he said.
Canadian officials, including Smith, have said the U.S. trade deficit with Canada, which the office of the U.S. Trade Representative put at US$63.3 billion in goods in 2024, is due to Canada selling oil at a discount to the United States, and that with oil, the United States has a trade surplus with Canada.
Trump said in his social media post that if Canada became a part of the United States, Canadians would save on taxes, have more security, and “the greatest and most powerful nation in the World will be bigger, better and stronger than ever — And Canada will be a big part of that.”
“The artificial line of separation drawn many years ago will finally disappear, and we will have the safest and most beautiful Nation anywhere in the World — And your brilliant anthem, ‘O Canada,’ will continue to play, but now representing a GREAT and POWERFUL STATE within the greatest Nation that the World has ever seen!” Trump said.
Canada’s outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said that there “isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States.”
“Workers and communities in both our countries benefit from being each other’s biggest trading and security partner,” Trudeau said in January.
Tariffs
Trump imposed 25 percent tariffs on items imported from Canada on March 4 with a lower rate of 10 percent on Canadian energy products, but announced March 5 the auto sector would receive a reprieve until April 2.
A day later, on March 6, Trump issued another executive order that granted an exemption from the 25 percent tariffs for goods covered by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) until April 2. That impacts roughly 38 percent of the goods the U.S. imports from Canada.
Canada responded by implementing tariffs on CA$30 billion worth of U.S. exports to Canada last week, while suspending tariffs on another CA$155 billion worth of products that was set to go into force three weeks later after the United States paused some of its tariffs. Canadian authorities have also said the country could take other non-tariff retaliatory measures against the United States, hinting that putting export tariffs on energy or cutting energy exports could be on the table.
Ford, whose province has also removed U.S. alcohol from government-run store shelves, said he is hopeful federal and provincial responses to U.S. tariffs will be significant enough to persuade Trump to reevaluate the existing and forthcoming tariffs imposed on Canada. He said he is also hopeful that feedback from American elected officials hit by Canadian counter-tariffs and product bans will persuade Trump to change course.
Ford said he has spoken with the governors in the states impacted by the electricity tariff to apologize for the measure the province has put in place.
In addition to the tariffs already introduced, which Trump has said are meant to push Canada and Mexico to address fentanyl and illegal immigrants coming into the United States through their borders, the U.S. president has also ordered his officials to review existing trade agreements and recommend additional tariffs by April 2 if any practices are deemed unfair to the United States.
