Ontario Premier Doug Ford is apparently coming around to President Donald Trump’s way of thinking that Canada should remove its high tariffs on U.S. goods coming into his country.
This is the same Canadian leader who had threatened just last month to shut off electricity to Americans coming from his country if Trump imposed tariffs.
CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin asked Ford on Wednesday, ahead of Trump’s reciprocal tariff announcement, “Do you think it’s fair? You have tariffs on a whole number of products.”
“That’s right, and we’d be willing to take those off tomorrow if he took all the tariffs off,” Ford said.
Sorkin responded to Ford, “You’re saying you’d take all the tariffs off. … I guess my question is, why has all of that not already happened, and does President Trump know that you’d be prepared to do that?”
“He knows, and [Commerce] Secretary [Howard] Lutnick knows that we’re willing to take these tariffs off in the next minute, if he said he’s taking their tariffs off,” Ford asserted.
“If he dropped all the tariffs, we’d have zero tariffs,” the premier said.
Now, what got Ford to the point of saying that Canada’s willing to drop all its tariffs? Trump announcing a new tariff regime.
Will Canada eventually bow to Trump’s request for simple, honest, reciprocal trade?
That is the stick that is driving these negotiations.
On Thursday, Ford reiterated in an interview with CTV, “We’re going to continue targeting zero tariffs.”
So, everything appears to be going according to Trump’s plan.
“My fellow Americans, this is Liberation Day. April 2, 2025, will forever be remembered as the day American industry was reborn, the day America’s destiny was reclaimed, and the day that we began to Make America Wealthy Again.” –President Donald J. Trump 🇺🇸🦅 pic.twitter.com/DrjnwK5Lwi
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) April 3, 2025
“I think it’s going very well,” the president told reporters at the White House Thursday regarding his tariff policy, as the stock market took a major hit.
“It was an operation, like when a patient get operated on. It’s a big thing. I said this [would] exactly be the way it is,” he continued, meaning there would be some turbulence.
But he pointed to the nearly $5 trillion in investment into the U.S. economy made since he’s taken office as proof that his plan to bring manufacturing back to the U.S. through tariffs and pro-growth tax and regulatory policies is working.
“The rest of the world wants to see is there any way to make a deal,” Trump said. Premier Ford’s comments above are a case in point.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: “The markets are going to boom. The stock is going to boom. The country is going to boom — and the rest of the world wants to see is there any way they can make a deal.” pic.twitter.com/gwC3WSyzIM
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) April 3, 2025
He added later in the day, “Tariffs give us great power to negotiate.”
“What we have is we have a set of tariffs based on what they have been charging us. That’s reciprocal. And those tariffs have come in, and every country has called us. That’s the beauty of what we do. We put ourselves in the driver’s seat,” Trump said.
JUST IN: President Trump says the tariffs are to put the United States back in the driver’s seat, says he is open to negotiations.
Trump says TikTok is close to a deal and says tariffs may force China to approve it.
“What we have is we have a set of tariffs based on what they… pic.twitter.com/MZY0jVxQxI
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) April 3, 2025
Former George W. Bush Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said he believes this is exactly what Trump is up to.
After Trump’s Wednesday announcement, Gutierrez told CNBC, “It’s the opening step. I would expect, and I would assume that this will not be in place in a month, two months. Definitely not in the back half of the year. So I’m in the camp that this is … the beginning of a big negotiation.”
He added, “It’s not only about bringing production back, but it’s also about market access.”
Trump’s reciprocal tariff plan calls for countries that charge the U.S. high rates to be charged half that amount in return, with 10 percent as a baseline amount on all goods coming into America.
JUST IN: Former Commerce Secretary predicts Trump’s tariffs won’t be in place by the back half of 2025 because other countries will rush to the negotiating table.
Former George W. Bush Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez just made the prediction on CNBC.
Gutierrez went as far… pic.twitter.com/8yyGiuwx0j
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) April 2, 2025
Gutierrez argued that Trump will likely want to keep in place the 10 percent across-the-board tariff as a revenue generator, while the higher reciprocal tariffs on dozens of countries will go away as they lower their import duties on U.S. goods.
That feels like how all this is going to play out.
It’s Trump’s “Art of the Deal” in action.
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