Ontario Premier Doug Ford has warned Ontarians to “fasten” their seatbelts ahead of an imminent Wednesday announcement from U.S. President Donald Trump about another sweeping round of tariffs.
Trump has stated that he would announce details about his plan to slam “reciprocal” tariffs on trading partners on Wednesday, calling it “Liberation Day.”
So far, few information has been released about the form the tariffs may take but they came on the heels of some other tariffs introduced by the U.S., including 25 percent levies on steel and aluminum that became effective last month.
In a recent interview with Newstalk 1010, Ford said he asked U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick about what Ontario could expect during a call last week but did not get any specific.
He said: “[Lutnick] said he didn’t know. Either he is blowing smoke or he really doesn’t know, and I think it is the latter. I think you are bang on. Sometimes Mr. Trump doesn’t know either. So let’s fasten our seatbelt and lets get ready.
“He (Trump) calls it Liberation Day, I call it Termination Day for quite a few Americans if this goes through. It is going to hurt America just like it is going to hurt Canadians too.”
Trump has already revealed that the U.S. will slam a tariff of 25 percent on imported vehicles as of April 3, but Ford told Newstalk 1010 that based on his understanding, the tariff would only apply to the portion of vehicle which is made up of non-American parts.
He added that that could at least blunt the impact of policy that would otherwise “absolutely annihilate”the auto sector of Ontario.
He said: “Can we survive? Yes. Am I happy? No, not at all. We should not be tariffed whatsoever. This auto pact has been around since 1965 and I said you can’t unscramble an egg that was made back in 1965. You just have to create a larger omelette and that is what I believe we should be doing here in North America with our U.S. friends.”
Recently, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said there would be “no exemptions” to the tariffs scheduled to take effect earlier this week, though it is not clear whether a 25 percent tariff on Canadian and Mexican goods that was partially delayed until April 2 would be revived.
Ford said he was “very concerned” about the potential for additional tariffs. He added that while “everything remains on the table” in the area of retaliatory action, he still believed that people crafting the Canadian response should wait for Trump’s announcement to “see the hand we are dealt.”
He said: “Once the tariffs come out then we can sit down as a group, the premiers, and the prime minister and his team, and come up with appropriate retaliations.”
