Ontario, B.C. premiers call for reprisals against U.S. for Trump’s latest tariffs

Ontario Premier Doug Ford speaks with reporters as he arrives for a meeting with Canada's premiers in Charlottetown, PEI on Tuesday. Photo by Tim Krochak/Postmedia

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“We can’t back down. We need a full Team Canada approach. Everything is on the table, but Ontario can’t do it alone. We need the support,” Ford insisted.

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“I’m tired of the bully trying to take our lunch money all the time. We always seem to be on our back heels. We need to be on the offence … We need to stand up to the bully, and we need to hit him tariff to tariff — all the way across the board. And that’s my message to the prime minister. We need a plan moving forward.”

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Ford was the only premier to provide an estimate for the economic impact of the tariffs: “What I understand, it’s $28 billion across the country.” Ontario will be hit the hardest, he added.

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The premiers were meeting Tuesday for the start of a first ministers conference, which will include the prime minister and Indigenous leaders.

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The Trump administration said the tariffs would come next month under Section 338 of the Tariff Act as payback for Canada’s retaliatory tariffs on U.S. autos, boycotts by provincial liquor boards of U.S. alcohol, and lack of access for U.S. exporters to Canada’s dairy market. Section 338 allows the U.S. president to impose tariffs on countries deemed to be discriminating against American commercial interests.

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Ford said Canada needs to retaliate harder.

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“We need a plan from a prime minister to come in, and if these talks fail in 29 days, we need to hit them back as hard as we can,” said Ford.

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“We have a situation where the American tariffs, the 338 tariffs, will come into effect in 29 days, and we will look at all options in terms of how we would respond if they do come into effect,” Carney told reporters in Ottawa on Tuesday.

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Negotiations with the U.S. are now centred on whether to preserve the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement, which Washington declined to renew by the deadline on July 1. The deal is now subject to annual reviews and negotiations until 2036, after which it expires, unless the three countries agree to fully renew it at any point.

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B.C.’s David Eby said he agreed with Ford about fighting back.

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“There is not a chance in hell that U.S. alcohol is going back on a shelf in British Columbia. And I’m proud of that, and I know the British Columbians support that. And the idea of the president that he can bully us into whatever he wishes is incorrect.”