Canadian officials are threatening to cut off energy supplies to the U.S. if the Trump administration follows through on threats to impose 25 percent tariffs on imports from its northern neighbor.
“We will go to the extent of cutting off their energy — going down to Michigan, going down to New York State and over to Wisconsin. I don’t want this to happen, but my number one job is to protect Ontarians and Canadians as a whole,” Premier Doug Ford of Ontario said Wednesday after a meeting of provincial premiers.
“We need to be ready,” he added. “We need to be ready to fight.”
Officials have also drawn up a list of U.S. exports to tariff in response, he said.
A tariff war between Canada and the U.S. would have major impacts on both countries. In 2023, Canada was far and away the top source of petroleum imports into the U.S., according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The U.S. is the destination for 97 percent of Canadian crude oil exports.
Last month, Donald Trump threatened to tariff key U.S. trading partners China, Canada, and Mexico, in a measure he said would crack down on illegal immigration and the drug trade.
Since then, the U.S. and Canada have alternated between bluster and diplomacy.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau quickly flew to Mar-a-Lago to dine with Trump after the tariff threat.
Trump, for his part, has made a series of provocative jabs about Canada since the tariff threat.
After the Mar-a-Lago meeting, Trump referred to the prime minister as “Governor Justin Trudeau of the Great State of Canada,” referring to his quip that the northern nation could avoid tariffs by becoming the 51st state in America.
The Canadian central bank warned this week Trump’s tariff threats are a “major source of new uncertainty” for the country’s economy.
In the hopes of avoiding the proposed tariffs, Canada is also reportedly assembling plans to use drones and police dogs to patrol the U.S.-Canada border and assuage Trump’s concerns about immigrants and drugs.
The incoming president has insisted the proposed tariffs will not hurt American consumers, even though companies typically pass on tariff prices to customers. Trump, however, admitted last week he “can’t guarantee” the tariffs won’t raise prices for American consumers.
