Canadian province to suspend 25% tariff on electricity exports to US

Ontario Premier Doug Ford assured that "this tool is still with them" and they will be able to "use it."

The Canadian province of Ontario will temporarily waive new tariffs on electricity supplies to the United States. The decision was made after President Donald Trump threatened to raise tariffs on aluminum and steel from Canada by up to 50 percent, the American television channel CNN reported.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford, after talks with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick (pronounced "Lutnick"), announced that he would suspend 25% tariffs on electricity exports to three US states.

"An eye for an eye — I agreed to temporarily suspend them (tariffs — ed.). But we always have this tool in our arsenal until we sit down at the negotiating table," the Canadian government official assured.

However, he does not believe that this cancellation of the allowance is a victory for Trump.

“I wouldn’t call it a victory at all, because this tool is still with us, and we can use it at any time,” Ford emphasized.

He said he was "confident" that Trump would drop new tariffs on Canadian metals, although he added that he could not speak on behalf of Washington.

Ford added that he and Latnik "had a productive conversation regarding the economic relationship between the United States and Canada."

He said he plans to meet with the US trade negotiator to "discuss a revised USMCA (United States-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement) ahead of the April 2 deadline for reciprocal tariffs."

As we already wrote, Ontario on Monday, March 10, announced a 25% increase in electricity prices for three American states.

We should add that Trump's new 4% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada, as well as the doubling of tariffs on Chinese goods to 25%, took effect on March 20. However, Trump later signed an executive order exempting a number of goods from Canada and Mexico from tariffs until April 2.