Posted on 03/11/2025 1:22:55 PM PDT by bitt
Ontario Premier Doug Ford agreed to suspend a surcharge on electricity exports to US states a few hours after Trump threatened retaliation against Canada.
On Monday evening Doug Ford threatened to cut off electricity to US states in response to Trump’s tariffs on Canada.
“If we go into a recession, it will be called the Trump recession,” Doug Ford said in an interview with CNBC’s “Money Movers.”
Doug Ford said cutting off electricity to the US is a tool in his toolkit.
“That’s the last thing I want to do,” Doug Ford said. “I want to send more electricity down to the US, to our closest allies or our best neighbors in the world. I want to send more electricity.”
Doug Ford added, “Is it a tool in our tool kit? One hundred percent, and as he continues to hurt Canadian families, Ontario families, I won’t hesitate to do that.”
Trump responded to Doug Ford’s threats by slapping an additional 25% tariff to 50%, on all steel and aluminum coming into the US from Canada.
“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. This will go into effect TOMORROW MORNING, March 12th. Also, Canada must immediately drop their Anti-American Farmer Tariff of 250% to 390% on various U.S. dairy products, which has long been considered outrageous. I will shortly be declaring a National Emergency on Electricity within the threatened area. This will allow the U.S to quickly do what has to be done to alleviate this abusive threat from Canada. If other egregious, long time Tariffs are not likewise dropped by Canada, I will substantially increase, on April 2nd, the Tariffs on Cars coming into the U.S. which will, essentially, permanently shut down the automobile manufacturing business in Canada. 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. The only thing that makes sense is for Canada to become our cherished Fifty First State. This would make all Tariffs, and everything else, totally disappear. Canadians’ taxes will be very substantially reduced, they will be more secure, militarily and otherwise, than ever before, there would no longer be a Northern Border problem, and the greatest and most powerful nation in the World will be bigger, better and stronger than ever — And Canada will be a big part of that. 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!” Trump said on Truth Social on Tuesday.
A few hours later…
Later Tuesday, Doug Ford caved and said he has agreed to suspend its surcharge on exports of electricity to Michigan, New York and Minnesota. ..more
p
The businessman beats the two-bit politicians every time.
Why are we reliant on electricity from Canada? Even Jimmy Carter used to preach energy independence back in the ‘70s.
Idiot. You you just don’t bite the hand that feeds you. The trade imbalance is going against them, and they will feel it more than us.
They have no idea who they’re dealing with.
Trump is not the average, corrupt, bought off politician.
Get that. Zero.
In other words, the U.S. could fully compensate for the loss by increasing generation from:
I have just submitted this information to OpenAI's Deep Research to look deeper into this matter.
Hydro-power is cheaper and the infrastructure is already in place.
Except for Michigan, both Minnestoa and New York have rejected fossil fuels and nuclear generated power.
I literally posted the equivalent last week to an article when this all began. The grids in the US all have spinning reserves and peaking units. They can be put on the grid and make up most the loss, may be some brownouts and even blackouts in very high peaks but we can absorb it.
I have been in the power industry for over 40 years, this showed me that moron from Canada and the liberal government there has no idea how the power industry actually works.
Ford mistaking Trump for the usual president reminds me of a line from old Warner Brothers cartoons: “He don’t know me, do he.”
As said, I submitted this matter to Deep Research (which is said to operate at a PhD level). It just got back to me with its response.
Here is it (it's rather long, so here's its conclusion):
In summary, yes – the U.S. can fully replace Ontario’s exports with domestic generation, thanks to ample underutilized capacity, but it would require activating mostly fossil-fueled resources.The grid can deliver the power, though operational adjustments would be necessary. Policymakers would need to balance the short-term reliability needs against longer-term environmental goals, possibly allowing a temporary increase in emissions and wear-and-tear on older plants.
But as a stopgap measure, the existing fleet in NY, MI, and MN is up to the task of keeping the lights on without Ontario – with careful management of grid operations and regulatory flexibility.
I just got back a massive response from OpenAI’s Deep Research on the question, “Can U.S. Generation Replace Ontario’s Power Exports?”
Given your experience in the power industry, you might be interested. If so, I could send it to you by Freepmail.
“He don’t know me, do he.”
Bugs Bunny I think.
Sure, would be interesting to see how AI compares to experience.
Ford’ big mouth got ahead of him. Trump was going to crash Ontario’s economy on April 4 by imposing 25% tariffs on American carmakers making cars in Ontario, their biggest industry employing 300,000 directly and indirectly. The lines would have shut down 2 says after the tariff went into effect. I still want him to impose them and bring the lines back to the US as they are exporting 93% of their production to the US. Screw Ontario
Awesome!
Well, at least some lefties got a tingle down their leg for long enough to post some panic porn and hatespeech about the fighting canucks on X.
Canadians didn't vote for that.
Yeah, that was a totally unforced error on the part of the Canadians.
It’s a lot easier for power generators in the US to shift their production to the Great Lakes region than for Canada to find buyers for their stuff
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