Canada premier to meet with Trump officials amid trade war with Canada
Donald Trump is reconsidering double planned tariffs after Ontario’s premier said he would suspend an electricity surcharge on U.S. energy users.
The head of a Canadian province announced Tuesday afternoon that a 25% surcharge on electricity exports has been suspended, while the U.S. back-tracked on a move to increase tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada.
Premier of Ontario Doug Ford announced the news Tuesday on X, saying he had a “productive conversation” with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick about the “economic relationship” between the neighboring countries. The two agreed to meet in Washington on Thursday to discuss a trade agreement, Ford and Lutnik’s statement said.
“In response, Ontario agreed to suspend its 25 per cent surcharge on exports of electricity to Michigan, New York and Minnesota.”
The reversal of Monday’s move came after Ford continued his public rebukes of President Donald Trump’s ongoing tariff flip-flopping against Canada.
Tuesday afternoon, Trump again reversed course and will no longer double tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada, according to Peter Navarro, the White House’s senior counselor for trade and manufacturing.
Here is what to know about the ongoing trade spat with Ontario.
Tuesday morning: Trump announced retaliation; Ford said Ontario ‘will not back down’
Trump specifically called out Ontario in his Truth Social post announcing the now-revoked steel and aluminum tariffs Tuesday morning.
“Based on Ontario, Canada, placing a 25% Tariff on ‘Electricity’ coming into the United States, I have instructed my Secretary of Commerce to add an ADDITIONAL 25% Tariff, to 50%, on all STEEL and ALUMINUM COMING INTO THE UNITED STATES FROM CANADA, ONE OF THE HIGHEST TARIFFING NATIONS ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD,” the post read.
Trump said the bumped rate would go into effect Wednesday. Stocks slid following Trump’s announcement.
Meanwhile, Ford said Ontario “will not back down” during a string of appearances on U.S. TV networks Tuesday morning, hours before announcing the surcharge suspension.
“We will be relentless. I apologize to the American people that President Trump decided to have an unprovoked attack on our country, on families, on jobs and it’s unacceptable,” Ford told MSNBC in response to Trump’s Truth Social post.
“The market’s speaking loud and clear, consumer confidence is down,” Ford told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “This is absolute chaos…this has to stop. Let’s sit around the table and negotiate a new deal.”
Earlier in March: Ford said surcharge would cost Americans about $70 on monthly electricity bills
Throughout March, Ford has been threatening to use Ontario’s electric exports to fight back against Trump’s tariffs on Canada, by adding a surcharge or even cutting off its flow of electricity altogether.
Ontario is Canada’s second-largest energy producer, with most of its power coming from uranium. The province has electricity interconnections with the provinces Manitoba and Quebec as well as three U.S. states: Michigan, Minnesota, and New York. Most of its imports come from Quebec and most of its exports go to New York and Michigan, according to the Canada Energy Regulator website.
Ford said Monday it isn’t just the three U.S. states that could be impacted by his moves, as some of those states sell the energy off to other states like Ohio or Pennsylvania.
He had estimated the 25% export fee would add $100 CAD, or $69 USD, on average, to monthly electricity bills for impacted Americans.
Ford on Monday also repeated threats to cut off the energy flow if the tariffs against Canada persist.
Michigan, New York and Minnesota leaders react to escalating trade war
The Michigan Public Service Commission told USA TODAY in an emailed statement Tuesday it was not aware of any Michigan utilities buying Canadian electricity, rather, “Michigan is more of a pass-through state for Canadian electricity.”
“We’re concerned about the impacts across the energy sector, including both pricing and reliability concerns,” MPSC said, noting the impact within the state will likely be small. “Of greater concern is the stability of the electric grid. There are significant flows across the border because of the interconnected grids between the two countries.”
MPSC said disruptions to this flow could increase the risk of widespread outages.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul said she was directing state agencies to review the impact of Trump’s tariffs and Ontario’s now-suspended retaliation in a press release Monday.
Minnestota Governor and former Democratic vice presidential opponent Tim Walz shared a story about the tariffs on Facebook, saying Minnesotans would be impacted.
“The first victims of Trump’s trade war? Minnesotans struggling to pay their skyrocketing electric bill,” the post read. “Minnesota cannot afford Trump’s billionaire-run economy. We have to put a stop to this madness.”
But Minnesota electricity companies say an Ontario surcharge is unlikely to have a major impact on electricity bills, though further trade war escalations could have a bigger impact if they come to fruition, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune.
Kinsey Crowley is a trending news reporter at USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected], and follow her on X and TikTok @kinseycrowley.