Trump on Canadian electricity surcharge: 'We'll just get it all back on April 2'
President Trump seemingly brushed off the recent electricity surcharge placed on the U.S. by Ontario, accusing Canada of being a tariff "abuser" and claiming the U.S. would get the money back when reciprocal tariffs kick in April 2.
“Despite the fact that Canada is charging the USA from 250 percent to 390 percent Tariffs on many of our farm products, Ontario just announced a 25 percent surcharge on ‘electricity,’ of all things, and [you're] not even allowed to do that,’ Trump wrote late Monday in a post on Truth Social.
“Because our Tariffs are reciprocal, we’ll just get it all back on April 2. Canada is a Tariff abuser, and always has been, but the United States is not going to be subsidizing Canada any longer,” he added. “We don’t need your Cars, we don’t need your Lumber, we don’t your Energy, and very soon, you will find that out. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”
His remarks come after Ontario imposed a 25 percent electricity surcharge on three U.S. states — New York, Michigan and Minnesota — following Trump's similar tariffs on products imported from Canada. The surcharge will impact sales for some 1.5 million businesses and homes in those states and could total up to $400,000 per day.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford told NewsNation on Monday that he needs to “sit down as quickly as possible” with Trump about the ongoing tariff war between the two neighboring countries.
"We’re seeing inflation happening already, and it’s unnecessary. We don’t need to do this. We can have the two most prosperous countries in the world,” Ford said. “We need to sit down as quickly as possible.”
The stock market suffered losses Monday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing at an 890-point loss — a 2.1 percent drop — and the Nasdaq composite closing with a 4 percent loss.
Two days after slapping tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada last week, alleging the two countries have not done enough to curb the influx of fentanyl into the U.S., the president signed off on exemptions for goods coming from Canada and Mexico that are covered by the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement until April 2.
When that deadline comes, Trump pledged to begin levying reciprocal tariffs on countries that have placed additional taxes on U.S. goods.
“On April 2, we’re going to move into the reciprocal tariff, and hopefully Mexico and Canada will have done a good enough job on fentanyl that this part of the conversation will be off the table, and we’ll move just to the reciprocal tariff conversation,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said recently.
Concerns have mounted over how the trade war could affect the economy, including talk around a possible recession. Trump did not rule out that possibility, saying Monday that the U.S. is in "a period of transition."
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