Ontario Premier Says Canada Could Cut Off Energy Export to 3 US States in Response to Trump Tariffs

Ontario Premier Doug Ford gives remarks at the 2023 Ontario Economic Summit, in Toronto, on Nov. 1, 2023. The Canadian Press/Christopher Katsarov

The head of Canada’s most populous province on Wednesday warned that he could cut off energy supplies to several northern U.S. states should President-elect Donald Trump go through with his plan to implement a 25 percent tariff over border security.

“We will go to the full extent, depending on how far this goes,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said in a news conference. “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.”

He said that while he does not “want this to happen,” he has a duty “to protect Ontario, Ontarians, and Canadians as a whole since we’re the largest province.”

“It’s a last resort,” Ford said. “I don’t think President-elect Trump wants that to happen. We’re sending a message to the U.S.: If you come and attack Ontario, you attack livelihoods of people in Ontario and Canadians, we are going to use every tool in our tool box to defend Ontarians and Canadians. Let’s hope it never comes to that.”

Ontario powered 1.5 million homes in the United States in 2023 and is a major exporter of electricity to Michigan, Minnesota, and New York.

The premier of the oil-rich Canadian province of Alberta ruled out cutting off oil exports to the United States as a response to the tariff threat.

“Under no circumstances will Alberta agree to cut off oil and gas exports,” Alberta Premier Danielle Smith told reporters Thursday. “Instead, we’re taking a diplomatic approach and we’re meeting with our allies in the U.S. We’re making the case for Alberta oil and gas to be part of the solution to energy affordability and energy security.”

In a Truth Social post in November, the president-elect said he would issue a 25 percent tariff for all products coming from Canada and Mexico unless the two U.S. neighbors do more to curb illegal immigration and the flow of deadly drugs like fentanyl into the United States.

The post prompted Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and a delegation to travel to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida to have dinner the day after Thanksgiving. Both leaders indicated that their conversation was productive, while several top Canadian officials said more resources will be dedicated to the U.S.–Canada border, the longest in the world.

This week, Trudeau said at a chamber of commerce event that 25 percent tariffs “would be devastating” to his country’s economy, and stressed that Americans would also face economic hardship from it.

“Americans import 65 percent of their crude oil from Canada, significant amounts of electricity. Just about all the natural gas exported from Canada goes to the United States,“ he said Monday. ”They rely on us for steel and aluminum. They rely on us for a range of agricultural imports. All of those things would get more expensive.”

When asked about Ford’s comments during an event at the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, Trump said, “That’s OK if he does that. That’s fine.”

“The United States is subsidizing Canada and we shouldn’t have to do that,” Trump said. “And we have a great relationship. I have so many friends in Canada, but we shouldn’t have to subsidize a country. We’re subsidizing more than $100 billion a year. We shouldn’t have to be doing that.”

Meanwhile, Trump has, on multiple occasions in recent days, jokingly called Canada the 51st state of the United States and Trudeau its governor.

Aside from Mexico and Canada, Trump also threatened to place an additional 10 percent tariff on Chinese imports if the Chinese regime fails to curb its production of precursors for fentanyl, significant amounts of which end up in the United States, often via Mexico.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.