Ontario premier threatens to cut off energy supply to US
OTTAWA — The premier of Canada’s largest province is threatening to cut energy exports to the United States in response to President-elect Donald Trump’s threats of 25 percent tariffs.
Doug Ford issued the warning after a meeting of Canada’s provincial premiers that was hosted by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Parliament Hill on Wednesday.
“We will go to the extent of cutting off their energy — going down to Michigan, going down to New York State and over to Wisconsin. I don’t want this to happen, but my number one job is to protect Ontarians and Canadians as a whole,” Ford said after the meeting.
“We need to be ready. We need to be ready to fight. This fight is coming 100 percent on Jan. 20th or Jan. 21.”
Trump has threatened tariffs on all Canadian and Mexican imports on the first day of his presidency if the two countries don’t exercise better control over illegal immigration and drugs at their borders.
Ottawa has tried to reassure the incoming Trump administration with statistics that show an extremely low level of fentanyl and people trafficking occurring at the northern border of the U.S.
But heated rhetoric in recent days, with Trump trolling Trudeau on social media as the “governor” of a potential “51st” state has resonated in Ottawa ahead of the meeting of Trudeau and his provincial counterparts.
The comments by Ford, a plain-spoken conservative with his own populist touch, represented a dropping of the gloves from Canada against Trump.