Ford's warning

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has sharply criticized the new tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump, referred to as the 'Liberation Day' tariffs. Ford emphasized the potential adverse effects that Trump's international trade policies might inflict on U.S. citizens.

An outspoken critic of the President

Ford has been an outspoken critic of Donald Trump’s tariff plans since he began talking about slapping a 25% tariff on all imported Canadian goods shortly after taking office.

The situation spiralled quickly

The rhetoric from all sides steadily increased until there was a public blow-up that led to an important phone call with Trump's Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick.

Getting things under control

Ford secured himself and Canadian trade officials a meeting with Lutnick in mid-March, and both sides agreed to tone down their public statements, though it didn’t last long.

He made fun of Liberation Day

The Ontario Premier's criticism of Trump was back in the news in April for blasting the President and his latest round of tariffs. Ford took a swipe at Trump over his April 2nd reciprocal tariff scheme, which Trump has taken to calling America's ‘Liberation Day’.

Ford had really toned down his rhetoric

Ford had been dead silent on Trump’s hairbrained tariff plans since he met with Lutnick and other American trade representatives alongside high-level Canadian trade officials in Washington on March 14th.

The March 14th meeting in Washington

According to Ford’s account of the meeting, he and Lutnick agreed to “let cooler heads prevail” after the Ontario Premier levied a 25% surcharge on electricity exports to three US states and earned a 50% tariff on Canadian steel and aluminum from Trump in response.

Lowering the temperature

“The temperature is being lowered,” Ford said following the meeting according to CBC News. Since his sitdown, Ford has remained silent on Trump’s tariffs but he veered off the path of neutrality on March 31st.

America’s Termination Day

While speaking with Newstalk 1010, Ford made fun of Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’, calling it America’s ‘Termination Day’ while talking about the President’s latest round of tariffs. April 2nd was set to see reciprocal tariffs levied against an unknown number of nations.

Revelations from Ford

Ford revealed that he had asked the US Secretary of Commerce to give him a heads up about what Ontario could expect during a call the previous week, but Lutnick never gave Ford any specifics about what Trump was planning for April 2nd.

Lutnick is clueless about April 2nd

Ford claimed Lutnick “said he didn’t know” before adding he was either “blowing smoke” or that the US Commerce Secretary really didn’t know what Trump was planning. “I think it is the latter. I think you are bang on,” Ford said according to CP24.

“Let’s fasten our seatbelt and let's get ready”

“Sometimes Mr. Trump doesn’t know either,” Ford said about the President, before going on to add: “So let’s fasten our seatbelt and let's get ready.” Ford went on to poke fun at Trump's 'Liberation Day' tariffs.

“He calls it Liberation Day”

“He 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,” Ford said.

What is Trump planning?

Exactly what Trump was planning on April 2nd remained unclear at the time. However, it was known that the United States was planning to impose a 25% tariff on all foreign-made automotive vehicles on April 3rd, a policy that would hurt Ontario and the Canadian economy.

Worries about new auto tariffs

Ford spoke about Trump’s auto tariff and told Newstalk 1010 that, as he understood things, the new tariff will only apply to the portion of a vehicle that isn’t made in the US, but this would only blunt a policy he said could annihilate Ontario’s auto sector.

“We should not be tariffed whatsoever”

“Can we survive? Yes. Am I happy? No, not at all. We should not be tariffed whatsoever,” Ford said. “This auto pact has been around since 1965 and I said you can’t unscramble an egg that was made back in 1965.”

Making a larger omelette with the US

“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,” Ford added.

No exemptions on April 2nd

Unfortunately, on March 31st, White House Spokesperson Keroline Levitt said that the United States was moving forward with its Liberation Day tariffs and that there would be “no exemptions” according to the Financial Post.

Worried about more tariffs

Canadians were bracing for what Trump’s latest round of heavy tariffs could do to their economy, and in his interview with Newstalk 1010, Ford warned that he is “very worried” there could be more tariffs on the horizon for Canada before adding that every response was on the table.

How Ford wants to respond

“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,” Ford said.

Trump's tariffs caused chaos in the stock market

Interestingly, Canada was excluded from the long list of nations that saw some level of tariff levied against them in Trump's 'Liberation Day' tariff announcement. It also looked like Ford's prediction that Liberation Day would turn out to be America's Termination Day after Trump's tariff announcement crashed the stock market.

Ford's comments after Liberation Day

While speaking at Orillia, Ontario on April 4th, Ford went after Trump's auto tariffs in a pointed message about how the US President was going to bring about major job losses in the United States.

Photo Credit: Facebook @FordNationDougFord

If Canadian goes down, so does the United States

“The very clear message with President Trump, these parts go back and forth across the border seven or eight times. If one of these parts companies go down, it will shut assembly lines down on both sides of the border," Ford explained accoridng to City News.