President Trump's tariff strategy brought a quick victory on Tuesday, forcing Ontario to retreat from a 25% surcharge on electricity exports to the United States, despite the administration's advancement by imposing a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum imports from Canada.
Ontario Prime Minister Doug Ford announced late Tuesday that the state would suspend electricity collection after a discussion with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, showing Trump's clear diplomatic victory. The Ontario surcharge was set in retaliation for previous tariffs imposed by Trump.
“I won't hurt Americans,” Ford told reporters in Toronto. According to Wall Street Journal. “Sometimes you have to play your cards, and this is one of the cards we played, and hopefully we're going to have a very good constructive conversation.”
The agreement comes after a day of intense trade tensions, highlighting Trump's ability to leverage tariff threats to achieve economic and diplomatic goals. Canada remains the top supplier of American foreign steel and aluminum, highlighting the importance of Trump's latest tariffs.
Despite intense lobbying by US businesses and foreign governments for exemptions or sculptures similar to those granted during Trump's first administration, the White House claimed on Tuesday that exceptions and sculptures would not be allowed.
“According to his previous executive order, 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum will be enforced in the midnight of March 12th without exceptions or exemptions on Canada and all other trading partners,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement.
Trump previously warned even stricter measures against Canada, including tariffs on auto parts, if Ottawa continues to retaliate against US trade measures. Truth Social Tuesday, Trump threatened to “greatly increase” collections of Canadian car imports, claiming that he would “close Canadian car manufacturing forever,” suggesting that cars could be produced domestically instead.
Mark Carney, designated by the Canadian Prime Minister, is stepping down and trying to replace the unpopular Justin Trudeau, calling Trump's actions an attack on Canadian households, but faces the difficult challenge of managing trade relations under Trump's company's tariff stance.
Ford and Lutnick are scheduled to meet in Washington on Thursday, and could pave the way for wider negotiations aimed at renewing the US-Canada trade agreement ahead of the April 2 deadline that Trump set for round-trip tariffs.
With Tuesday's development, Trump reaffirmed his willingness to deploy tariffs as a tool to negotiate tariffs and provided concrete results with compelling trading partners to reconsider retaliation actions against the US
