Ontario will charge 25 per cent more for electricity shipped to 1.5 million Americans starting Monday in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs, Premier Doug Ford said Thursday.
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READ: Premier Smith outlines Alberta’s tariff response
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Ontario provides electricity to Minnesota, New York and Michigan. Earlier this week, Ford warned the governors of those states about the coming changes.
“This Monday, we’re putting a tariff, a 25 per cent tariff, on the electricity to the 1.5 million homes and businesses in those three states,” Ford said on CNN.
“And honestly, it really bothers me. We have to do this, but I don’t want to do this.”
On Tuesday, Trump imposed 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods and a 10 per cent levy on energy, but then carved out the auto sector from tariffs on Wednesday.
Canada responded with 25 per cent retaliatory tariffs on $30 billion worth of American products and said tariffs on another $125 billion in goods would follow after three weeks.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said earlier Thursday that it was “likely” Trump would pause most of the sweeping tariffs on Canada and Mexico until April 2. Trump confirmed in a social media post that Mexico will get a one-month pause on tariffs for most imports but made no mention of tariffs on Canada.
Both Ford and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have said they will not back down until all tariffs are removed.
Ford said he still wants to work with the U.S. to create the two most prosperous countries in the world by sharing more energy and critical miners.
The premier has also threatened to shut off power completely to the three U.S. states by early April if the tariffs remain.
He has also mused about stockpiling nickel, a mineral widely used by the American military and aerospace industry.
Ontario has already ripped up a $100-million deal with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to bring Starlink’s high-speed internet to rural and northern communities and remote First Nations. Ford has also banned U.S. companies from bidding on the province’s $30-billion worth of procurement contracts.
