Premier Doug Ford says “everything’s on the table” in Ontario’s response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war—including cutting off the power it supplies to 1.5 million homes south of the border—but he says he won’t do so unilaterally.
“I can’t do it alone. You know, I’m not the only province that ships electricity down to the U.S. We need a Team Canada approach, and I’d be happy, within the provinces, to lead that approach,” he said at an unrelated news conference Wednesday.
The province briefly applied, and then removed, a 25 per cent surcharge on its electricity exports to New York, Michigan and Minnesota last year as the trade war began.
Ford has previously said he would cut off the energy to those states completely “with a smile” on his face if the trade dispute intensifies.
“If this escalates and we can’t get back to the table, and he (Trump) keeps coming after us, all options are on the table, in my opinion,” Ford said Wednesday.
According to the most recent data from Statistics Canada, Ontario sent 12.8 million MWh (megawatt-hours) of electricity to the U.S. in 2024, the most of any province. British Columbia and Manitoba were the second and third largest exporters, sending 6.3 million MWh and 6.0 million MWh, respectively, south of the border.
Ontario’s previous surcharge on its U.S. electricity exports struck a nerve with Trump at the time. The president questioned why the country was not powering itself domestically before threatening that Canada would pay a financial price “so big” it would be “read about in history books for many years to come,” before the surcharge was walked back.
This is a breaking news story. More details to come.
