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President Donald Trump lowered the boom on Canada on Tuesday, announcing more tariffs against targeted goods from the country as Ontario continued its aggressive assault on American trade by threatening to tariff electricity imports into the U.S.
“Based on Ontario, Canada, placing a 25% Tariff on ‘Electricity’ coming into the United States, I have instructed my Secretary of Commerce to add an ADDITIONAL 25% Tariff, to 50%, on all STEEL and ALUMINUM COMING INTO THE UNITED STATES FROM CANADA, ONE OF THE HIGHEST TARIFFING NATIONS ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD,” the president wrote on Truth Social.
This comes amid the president’s new tariff policies also affecting Mexico and China. So far, Trump has utilized what are essentially retaliatory tariffs as a response to the ongoing drug crisis facilitated at the northern and southern borders to force Mexico, Canada, and China to consider the steep price of allowing poison to flow into the United States.
“More than 100,000 people died last year due to the distribution of these dangerous and highly addictive POISONS. Millions of people have died over the last two decades,” President Trump explained in March.
The threatened tariffs on Canada also come ahead of a rapidly approaching April 2 implementation date for reciprocal tariffs on all countries doing business with the United States.
President Trump said the duties on steel and aluminum will go into effect March 12. He further urged the Canadian government to drop “Anti-American Farmer” tariffs of “250% to 390% on various U.S. dairy products, which has long since been considered outrageous.”
Additionally, President Trump said he would take the following actions to “alleviate” Canada’s economic threats against the United States:
- Declare a “National Emergency on Electricity” that will allow the United States to move quickly to remedy the situation,
- Increase Canadian car imports “substantially” on April 2 if they do not drop “other egregious, long time Tariffs.
He warned that such tariffs on imported vehicles would “permanently shut down the automobile manufacturing business in Canada.”
The president explained the situation succinctly:
“Those cars can easily be made in the USA! Also, Canada pays very little for National Security, relying on the United States for military protection. We are subsidizing Canada to the tune of more than 200 Billion Dollars a year. WHY??? This cannot continue.”
To remedy this ongoing issue, Trump again called for Canada to become “our cherished Fifty First State.” He noted that if Canada joined the Union, all tariffs would immediately disappear, and Canadians would enjoy a reduced tax load and the privilege of U.S. military protection.
“The artificial line of separation drawn many years ago will finally disappear, and we will have the safest and most beautiful Nation anywhere in the World — And your brilliant anthem, ‘O Canada,’ will continue to play, but now representing a GREAT and POWERFUL STATE within the greatest Nation that the World has ever seen!” he concluded in his statement.
Just hours following the president’s strong statement in response to Ontario, Premier Doug Ford announced in a joint statement with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick that he would suspend the 25 percent tariff on electricity exports into the United States. This is pending on a renewed negotiation of the USMCA trade deal, per the statement.
The president’s current trajectory on claiming Canada as America’s 51st state comes amid Mark Carney’s election to succeed Justin Trudeau as prime minister.
