Ontario Premier Doug Ford Talks US-Canada Trade Tensions

**Joe Mathieu** (0:00)
Trade tensions between the US and Canada are reaching new highs. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announcing the country will double its counter tariffs on American steel and aluminum products, along with a slew of other levies to additional goods, matching the US tariffs announced last weekend, nearly dollar for dollar. Canada's Finance Minister addressing what went into their government's decision earlier today.

**Doug Ford** (0:22)
Well, you know, I think things got a little heated, Joe, yesterday between both of us. He was throwing insults. He's not trying to throw insults to anyone. And I hit back, but I think it'd be more productive if we actually sit down and the Prime Minister and the President sit down and have a fair deal for everyone. Because right now, there's not certainty in either country. There's not stability. I talked to a lot of governors and senators and congresspeople. They need certainty. Their constituents need certainty. And the way you do it is by signing a fair trade deal. And I told the Prime Minister, no deal is better than a bad deal. And we have to go tariff for tariff and dollar for dollar. And it's unfortunate.
We had an attack from President Trump on our sovereignty, on our country, on the economy, that were so integrated.
Both countries were both each other's number one customer. And it just doesn't make sense to attack each other.

**Joe Mathieu** (1:24)
Well, we understand Ontario is disproportionately impacted by these tariffs when you look across the country of Canada. Will you move, if this is the direction we're going in, to cut off electricity to the United States as you threaten?

**Doug Ford** (1:38)
Well, I wouldn't say cut it off, but surcharges for sure doesn't make sense to the Ontario people that when we're under attack economically, that we'd be sending electricity down to companies and residents to keep their power going. I have an idea, Joe. I'd like to send more electricity down there. I'd like to create Fortress North America and keep an eye on people that may not see eye to eye with both countries like China and Russia. But right now, it seems like the president's treating Communist China better than his closest friend and ally for over 200 years. It's not productive and a tariff on Canada is nothing more than a tax on the American people. And we've seen that. They're going to be paying thousands of dollars more in cost. The president ran on reducing unemployment and it's actually, he lost jobs last month. We gained 52,000 in Ontario alone, 120,000 in four months. We're diversifying our trade. And once that train leaves the station and we're dealing with other countries around the world, which we've seen increases of 100, 150% of new trade, it's hard to turn that train around. So we're going to continue working with the administration.
And I'm confident the prime minister and the president, hopefully the president will come to their census and actually make a fair deal.

**Joe Mathieu** (3:04)
Well, I'll tell you, I've been watching the president's truth social feed, as I am sure you have. He's been saying a lot, posting a lot about Canada, including this one, the US is giving serious consideration, he says, to changing the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America, in that we don't expect to be doing much business with Ontario much longer. How much of this is serious, Premier?
How much of this is chest thumping around the negotiating table that will actually end up in a deal?

**Doug Ford** (3:33)
Well, you know, something that's up to the president. If he wants to change Lake Ontario to Lake America, I know Canadians, we're always going to call it Lake Ontario, but that's a lot of rhetoric, again. And he's saying he won't do a lot of business with Ontario. Well, let me remind the president, nine million Americans wake up every single morning to produce a product, a widget or a service for Ontario.
If we were a standalone country, which I never recommend, we'd be your third largest trading partner in the world, Ontario alone. Canada is your number one customer. Ontario is the number one customer to 15 states and number two to 12 others. So it would really, really affect a lot of states. I'll give you an example, Joe.
You know, already the auto sector has been hit by 110 billion dollars. That's 110 billion dollars. And, you know, I feel for the autoworkers in Ontario, but I also, because I love the Americans, I love the US., I think about the workers in Texas and Kentucky and Michigan and Illinois and Ohio that are going to lose their job. Because we buy 400 percent more vehicles than anywhere else in the entire world. And so it's going to be unfortunate if we go down this road.