By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2025-03-13 22:42:26 | Updated at 2025-03-14 13:18:29
14 hours ago
Ontario Premier Doug Ford and President Trump traded more barbs over their escalating tariff war Thursday — with Ford vowing to “never roll over” to America’s demands and Trump insisting the US’s northern neighbor would be better off as the 51st state.
“As the premier of Ontario, I’m supposed to roll over? I’ll never roll over,” Ford told Fox News Thursday, shortly before he met with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to discuss the tenuous tariff situation.
“Inflation is going to happen. A tariff on Canada is a tax on the American people,” he added.
Those comments come just two days after Ford — who previously said his province would cut off the power it supplies to several US states “with a smile on my face” if Trump didn’t back down from his 25% tariffs — announced he was suspending plans for retaliatory tariffs on electricity exports.
“There’s a fever pitch right now. We need to bring down the temperature. And I thought it would be in the best interest of America and Canada,” he said, explaining that he backed off from his retaliatory threats in the hopes that the two nations could calmly come to the negotiating table.
But Ford — the leader of Canada’s Conservative party and a longtime supporter of Trump — made it clear he would not give in to US pressure and that the president was “disappointing” him.
“This is hurting the American people. The markets are speaking,” Ford said. “The world is watching right now. Why attack your best neighbor, your treasured ally?”
“This does not my sense. Mark my words, this will hurt the American people,” he added.
Canada has been largely matching the new tariffs imposed by the US, and on Thursday introduced a new 25% tariff on steel and aluminum in response to the same action from Trump on those metals the day before.
Trump tacked on an additional 25% tariff on other products from Canada and Mexico — but those have been postponed til April 2.
But even as stock markets have plummeted over the erratic trade war, Trump remained resolute in his plans while speaking to reporters Thursday — and doubled down on his stance that the troubles would all go away if Canada became a US state.
“We don’t need anything they have. As a state, it would be one of the great states anyway,” Trump said. “This would be the most incredible country visually.”
“We don’t need their lumber, we don’t need their energy,” he said, adding that he loved Canada’s national anthem and that they could retain it if they joined the union.
“Keep it. But it will be for the state, one of our greatest states, maybe our greatest state.”
The president’s comments about turning Canada into the 51st state seemed to be a joke when he first floated the idea after his November election, but the prospect has come increasingly to the fore as he’s ramped up the trade war with the US’s northern neighbor.
After the first tariffs were announced earlier in March, outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speculated that Trump was attempting to weaken the Canadian economy so the US could more easily absorb it — but vowed Canadians wouldn’t give in.
“We will never be the 51st state, but he can do damage to the Canadian economy, and he’s started this morning, but he is rapidly going to find out as American families are going to find out, that that’s going to hurt people on both sides of the border,” Trudeau said at the time.
