Ford says Canada will seek ‘exemptions’ from Trump’s plan for global tariff

U.S. President Donald Trump is about to slap a tariff on the whole world, then pick and choose who will get relief in the form of exemptions.

That’s what Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he learned during last week’s face-to-face meeting with U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, in Washington.

Ford met with reporters on Tuesday to shed more light on the nearly two-hour meeting, which was also attended by representatives from Canada and the U.S.

Ford emerged from the meeting, saying “the temperature has been lowered” in respect to the trade war that’s put Canadians on edge as it escalated with heavy doses of chest puffing and a volley of primetime newsbyte barbs.

On Tuesday, Ford revealed more details about the meeting, and Canada’s strategy in a fight against a much larger, more powerful foe.

“I can tell you what they want. They’re going to put a global tariff on the whole world,” Ford said, referring to Trump’s unwavering plan for sweeping 25 per cent tariffs on April 2.

Trump has already slapped a 25 per cent import tariff on all steel and aluminum imports into the U.S., including from Canada.

“What we are working at is making sure that we are first in line for exemptions,” Ford said.

Ford didn’t say how Canada could vault itself to the front of the line for America’s mercy, but said he tried to impart how valuable Canada is to the U.S. economy during the meeting.

He also said he understands that Trump wants to bring manufacturing back to America, but it’s not something that can happen overnight.

“I mentioned that you can’t flick a switch and create a car plant overnight (or) an aluminum plant.

“I think they are coming to realize how important the (Canadian) supply chain is, the supply chain is critical.”

“We look forward to continuing these talks,” he added. “We aren’t looking forward to April 2, but we will retaliate, dollar for dollar, tariff for tariff, it is going to hurt the Americans, it is going to hurt us, but we can’t roll over.”

Ford also downplayed threats of U.S. annexation, despite President Trump repeatedly referring to Canada as the 51st state and mocking former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as “governor Trudeau.”

“As Secretary Lutnick told us, he’s not invading Canada, and all the other nonsense that’s been going on,” Ford said. “He wants to boost up Canada, it’s in their best interests, after — if I can put it bluntly — after they fill their plate.”

As for what Canada can do to prepare for its new reality after falling out of grace with our American neighbours?

“We need to build big federal infrastructure projects,” Ford advised. “Whether it’s rail lines or pipelines … this is the time to do it.”

Ford also said that even though his threat to slap a tariff on Canadian energy that’s sold to three U.S. states was ultimately dropped, it still served a purpose and remains in his back pocket.

“We left (the Washington meeting) knowing what the U.S. wants and if I didn’t do what I did that meeting would have never happened,” he said.

“It’s always on the table,” he said of the potential energy tariff. “But the last thing I want to do is antagonize and everyone goes to war again, I want to try and move forward on any negotiations.”