Ontario to suspend electricity surcharge, Ford to meet with Lutnick

Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he will suspend the province’s 25 per cent surcharge on exports of electricity to Michigan, New York and Minnesota.

This comes following a conversation Ford had with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, who the province said has agreed to meet with the Premier on Thursday, alongside the United States Trade Representative to “discuss a renewed USMCA ahead of the April 2 reciprocal tariff deadline.”

Ford said he will be joined by Federal Minister of Finance Dominic LeBlanc and said Lutnick offered “an olive branch” to meet with him and the whole trade administration.

“They understand how serious we are about the electricity and the tariffs, and rather than going back and forth and having threats to each other, we have both agreed that cooler heads prevail. We need to sit down and move this forward,” Ford told reporters on Tuesday.

The White House confirmed U.S. President Donald Trump will be backtracking on doubling the steel and aluminum tariffs set to come into effect at midnight Wednesday from 25 per cent to 50 per cent. The tariffs will still go into effect at 25 per cent.

He added they can still have the electricity surcharge in their back pocket should they need to enforce them again.

The premier added he was confident the U.S. President will “pull back,” on the steel and aluminum tariffs announced Tuesday. “I’m not speaking for the President. But if he continues with the aluminum and the steel, I just got off the phone when Minister LeBlanc, they will respond dollar for dollar, tariff for tariff.”

Earlier in the day, Ford said he will “respond appropriately” to U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest tariff escalation.

Ford was speaking in an interview on MSNBC today, moments after Trump said he would double an imminent tariff on steel and aluminum from Canada in response to Ontario placing a surcharge on electricity it sends to three U.S. states.

“We will not back down. We will be relentless,” Ford said. … “I will respond appropriately on the electricity, stay tuned.”

“I apologize to the American people that President Trump decided to have an unprovoked attack on our country, on families, on jobs, and it’s unacceptable. Let’s work together, let’s get to the table if he has issues and let’s sort this out,” he said.

Ontario enacted Monday the surcharge of 25 per cent on electricity exported to 1.5 million homes in New York, Michigan and Minnesota, and Ford said he could raise that amount even higher in response to further American escalation.

Ford did not give an indication in the MSNBC interview of what he is considering for his response in turn, but he has previously threatened to cut off the supply of electricity to the three states.

He was also asked a similar question in an interview with CNBC.

“I won’t hesitate to do that, that’s the last thing I want to do. … There’s one person to be blamed, and that’s President Trump,” the Premier replied.

Trump posted on social media this morning that in response he would tariff Canadian steel and aluminum at 50 per cent, instead of the 25 per cent that was set to go into effect on Wednesday.

“The President saw Premier Doug Ford make an egregious and insulting comment, threatening to shut down electricity for the American people, for hardworking American families. He made that threat, the President saw that and has an obligation and a responsibility to respond,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said at an afternoon briefing.

Ford has previously said that Ontario’s retaliatory measures – also including removing American alcohol from Liquor Control Board of Ontario shelves and banning American companies from government procurement contracts – would stay in place until all U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods are removed.