Ontario Premier Doug Ford is being urged to “walk back” any discussion of cutting off energy exports to the United States in the event of a tariff war with incoming President Donald Trump, as other premiers express concerns about the impacts of escalation.
The call comes from Alberta Premier Danielle Smith whose province has rejected the idea of using oil and gas exports as a bargaining chip in the ongoing Canadian effort to avoid tariffs by the incoming Trump administration.
“I think it’s a non-starter,” Smith told Global News on Monday. “I think it’s too dangerous to even talk about cutting off energy. Wars have been started over that kind of conversation.”
Ford sparked headlines across the United States when he threatened to cut off Ontario’s electricity exports to New York, Michigan and Minnesota as a retaliatory measure – a warning the premier has doubled down on in appearances on Canadian and American media.
“It would turn off the lights to a million-and-a-half Americans,” Ford said. “If they come at us we have to stand up for Canadians, we have to stand up for Ontarians.”
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Public policy experts have warned that the move could backfire if the incoming Trump administration decides to escalate and put Ontario’s auto manufacturing sector, one of the most dominant parts of the province’s trading relationship with the U.S., in the crosshairs.
Alberta, which exports 4.3 million barrels of oil to the U.S. every day, shut down talk of suppressing exports immediately with Smith now suggesting Ontario should do the same.
“Energy is vital to their (the U.S.) interests and it’s vital to the functioning of their economy and is vital to national security and international security,” Smith said. “We got to walk that talk back because there is one conversation to be had about tariffs, but we can’t be talking about cutting off any of that kind of vital product.”
Ford, Smith and the rest of Canada’s Premiers met in Mississauga on Monday for the Council of the Federation – a meeting that was preoccupied with the Canadian response to Trump’s tariff threat.
While the subject of retaliation wasn’t discussed, Smith said that Ford is well aware of Alberta’s position and preference for diplomacy.
“Doug and I have a regular texting relationship so whenever he says something that I like, I send him a note and whenever I have a different perspective, I send him a note as well,” Smith said. “So we’ll continue to have that open discussion.”
That discussion, Smith told Global News, includes a request to dial back the rhetoric over the two-way trading relationship.
“And if we were to disrupt that relationship, that’s not just a minor skirmish,” Smith said. “That’s a generational skirmish that would be very difficult to walk back.”
During an appearance on CNN on Tuesday, Ford repeated his stance that cutting off electricity is one “tool that we have in the tool box.”
Asked whether Canada would consider cutting off Alberta’s oil, Ford pivoted to talking about the impact of tariffs on American imports of Canadian oil.