Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he was “shocked” Canada wasn’t included in U.S. President Donald Trump’s 90-day tariff pause.
“We were shocked that we weren’t part of the group, per se. And you know, (we’re the United States’) number one customer -- we’re both each other’s number one customer -- and we need to get through this and bring certainty back to the people of the United States and Canada," Ford said in an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Thursday.
On Wednesday, Trump pumped the brakes on his so-called “reciprocal” tariffs announced last week, but kept a 10 per cent baseline tax in place for all countries.
While Canada was exempt from those levies, the 25 per cent U.S. tariff on autos, steel and aluminum, and goods non-compliant with the North American trade pact remain in place.
Canada has hit back with its own retaliatory tariffs on $60 billion worth of American goods, and stands prepared to unleash $95 billion more if the U.S. trade war continues.
Ford has said that while he was relieved Canada was left out of the duties announced last week, the tariffs that remain on Canadian goods are unacceptable.
“The reality is, a tariff on Canada is a tax on Americans, and that’s the last thing we want to see (for) the American people,” Ford said Thursday, adding that he still believes the Canadian government would drop its retaliatory tariffs if the U.S. ends the trade war.
At a provincial level, Ford’s government has introduced a suite of retaliatory measures, including pulling U.S, alcohol from LCBO shelves and banning American companies from approximately $30 billion in provincial contracts.
Previously, the Ontario government introduced, and then suspended, a 25 per cent surcharge on the electricity it sends to three U.S. states.
Ford said the trade war is having a chilling effect on a number of industries on both sides of the border, but noted that tourism is also being hit hard as some Canadians look to spend their vacation dollars outside of the U.S.
“We know the border traffic’s gone down dramatically. Flights going into the U.S dropped dramatically. And isn’t that unfortunate (for) two countries, two groups of people that love each other,” he said.
In March, one tourism industry monitor reported that the demand for Canada-U.S. flights has “collapsed,” with cross-border bookings down more than 70 per cent for this spring and summer.
Earlier this month, a New York tourism official said he was concerned about a dip in cross-border traffic, and noted that the number of visits from north of the border dropped sharply in February after the trade war began.
Ford made the comments after meeting with Utah Governor Spencer Cox, who has been critical of Trump’s tariffs and served as the chairman of the National Governors Association last year in a role that parallels Ford’s current position as chair of Canada’s Council of the Federation of premiers.
The premier said he thinks Cox will speak “very positively” about his visit to Toronto and expects that the Republican governor will encourage his counterparts to make the trip to Ontario, which Ford said is critically important.
“The governors have massive power down there and the president does listen to the governors,” he told reporters at Queen’s Park.
