There have been a lot of international tensions in recent months since Donald Trump took office. Some of the tensions are right in his own backyard, as Canada has some serious issues with the upcoming tariffs being put in place by the US.
One particular Canadian Premier, Doug Ford, has been outspoken on the subject. He recently threatened to shut off electricity to some 1.5 million Americans and now he has canceled a $100 million contract with Elon Musk.
All of this is in retaliation for the tariffs that Trump is putting in place. According to Doug Ford, the Premier of Ontario, Canada, they have already shredded the contract with Starlink, Musk’s satellite Internet company. He is also set to stop all businesses based in the United States from taking any provincial procurement. He then went on to say that Trump has chosen chaos over prosperity.
At first, things were on pause for 30 days but now Trump has signed off on the plan to put 25% tariffs on Canadian exports and 10% tariffs on Canadian energy this week. Not long after returning to the White House, he put those restrictions on Canada and Mexico and a 10% tariff on China.
According to Trump, the upcoming tariffs are to hold those countries ‘accountable for their promises to halt the flood of poisonous drugs into the US.’
Trump did put an ultimatum in place, saying that Canada could choose to become a ‘cherished’ 51st state of the US and the tariffs would be avoided altogether.
As far as the finality of the contract between Starlink and the Canadian province, Ford said: “It’s done, it’s gone.
“We won’t award contracts to people who enable and encourage economic attacks on our province and our country.”
In addition to this, Ontario’s primary liquor wholesaler has said it will not be purchasing or selling alcohol from the United States any longer.
Ford spoke about the upcoming issues, saying: “This is not the outcome anyone wanted.
“We could have poured our efforts into making Canada and the US the two richest, most successful, safest, most secure two countries on the planet. Unfortunately, one man — President Trump — has chosen chaos instead.”
He added: “We also need to be ready to dig in for a long fight.
“We need to be ready to escalate using every tool in our tool kit.”
In another interview, he said: “If they want to try to annihilate Ontario, I will do anything, including cutting off their energy — with a smile on my face.
“They need to feel the pain. They want to come at us hard? We’ve got to go back twice as hard.”
