Ontario Premier Doug Ford holds a press conference at Queen's Park in Toronto on March 4.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he is holding back on his confrontational rhetoric in the trade war launched by the U.S., and even suggested that White House threats to annex Canada by economic force should be seen as a compliment.
Mr. Ford, speaking to reporters at Queen’s Park about his meeting last week with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, said Tuesday that his focus was now on convincing the U.S. to exempt Canada from the sweeping tariffs it is set to impose on trading partners in two weeks.
While the Premier dismissed the notion of a U.S. military invasion of Canada as “nonsense,” he did not provide any assurances gleaned from his recent meeting that the U.S. administration wouldn’t use the economic stranglehold of 25-per-cent tariffs to compel Canada to become the 51st state, as repeatedly threatened by President Donald Trump and his key advisers.
“They aren’t coming into our country to take over, I’ll tell you that,” Mr. Ford said. “I kind of flip this around. What a compliment. We’ll never be a 51st state. Canada’s not for sale. But isn’t it nice that someone thinks we have the greatest country world, and they want access?”
The Premier said both he and Mr. Lutnick – who was on TV just last week talking about Canadian statehood and suggesting Canadians were ungrateful to the U.S. – have toned it down since their meeting.
“I’ve kind of held back as well. I don’t want to do anything to jeopardize our talks and our negotiations,” said Mr. Ford, who is due to swear in a new cabinet on Wednesday after last month’s provincial election.
The Premier’s comments follow last week’s high-stakes trade drama, in which he backed down from imposing a 25-per-cent surcharge on his province’s electricity exports to the U.S. Mr. Ford’s move prompted a vehement reaction from Mr. Trump, who immediately threatened to double the 25-per-cent duties he was about to impose on Canadian steel and aluminum.
In exchange for the Premier’s about-face, Mr. Trump reversed his threat to double the levy. Mr. Ford was also invited to Washington just days later to meet with the U.S. Commerce Secretary and other trade officials, and the Premier was joined by federal ministers Dominic LeBlanc and François-Philippe Champagne, who were named to key roles last Friday in Prime Minister Mark Carney’s new cabinet.
On Tuesday, Mr. Ford insisted Mr. Lutnick somehow wants to “boost up” Canada, despite Mr. Trump’s repeated threats of annexation and tariffs that could cripple Canada’s U.S.-trade-dependent economy.
The Premier said Mr. Lutnick outlined U.S. plans for tariffs on all countries, which are threatened for April 2, in their meeting. Mr. Ford said the duties would focus on certain key industries, including lumber and technology as well as the steel and aluminum duties brought in last week.
The Premier said his goal remains to convince the White House that the tariffs on Canada will hurt Americans, while also establishing Canada as a “tier 1″ country for the U.S. to turn to when it realizes it actually needs aluminum or high-grade nickel. While not ruling out bringing back his electricity surcharge, Mr. Ford said it was the last thing he wanted to do, as it would “antagonize” the U.S.
As a follow-up to last week’s meeting with Mr. Lutnick, Ontario’s trade representative in Washington, David Paterson, spoke with officials from U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer’s office on Monday evening. Mr. Ford called it a “great conversation.” The discussions are set to continue with another meeting in Washington next week. It’s not yet known if the Premier himself will attend.
On Tuesday morning, Mr. Ford met at his home with Chrystia Freeland, who was named federal Transport and Internal Trade Minister after losing her Liberal leadership bid. In an Instagram post, Ms. Freeland – the former deputy prime minister and finance minister in Justin Trudeau’s government – called Mr. Ford a friend and said the two discussed quickly reducing internal trade barriers between provinces.
The Premier also had breakfast last week with Mr. Carney, whom he praised as an “extremely astute business mind.” Mr. Ford, chair of the Council of the Federation, said he hoped to sit down on Friday for a meeting with his fellow premiers and the new Prime Minister.
It is not unusual for Mr. Ford, Ontario’s Progressive Conservative Leader, to cross party lines and praise federal Liberals such as Ms. Freeland and Mr. Trudeau, with whom he co-operated on the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. But he has rarely spoken publicly about federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and said last week he would be staying out of the impending election campaign.
The Premier, asked on Tuesday which federal party leader he knew better, Mr. Poilievre or Mr. Carney, replied: “I don’t know either one of them, to be frank.” He said he would work with either one after the election.