Ontario Premier Doug Ford decided Sunday would be a good day to pick a fight with the most powerful country on earth. He told the Associated Press that Canada would \u201ccut them off\u201d from Ontario\u2019s electricity supply and that the United States \u201cwon\u2019t get a grain of sand out of Ontario.\u201d He added that \u201ceverything\u2019s on the table.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s response was swift, surgical, and \u2014 characteristically \u2014 personally devastating:<\/p>\n
\u201cAmerica has been carrying Canada for decades, but no longer! The U.S.A. will always be far bigger, richer, and stronger than Canada. Without the United States, Canada couldn\u2019t survive \u2014 It\u2019s where they get all of their money.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then came the line about Ford\u2019s late brother Rob Ford \u2014 Canada\u2019s most famous mayor, who became internationally famous for his extraordinary personal behavior \u2014 that will follow Doug Ford for the remainder of his political career: \u201clots of \u2018bluster\u2019 from Doug Ford, who is the Premier of the Canadian Province of Ontario, but who is better known as the less charismatic, intelligent, and overall unimpressive brother of the late, great, Rob Ford.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s going to leave a mark.<\/p>\n
The broader context matters enormously. The Friday trade deal deadline passed without resolution, triggering U.S. tariffs of 50 percent on Canadian imports. Canada responded with countermeasures. Trump has since announced 50 percent tariffs on vehicle supply chains starting in 2027. The trade war that Canada\u2019s government convinced itself it could win with the right combination of retaliatory measures and international pressure is not going the way Carney and Ford calculated.<\/p>\n
The electricity threat in particular deserves to be examined for what it actually is \u2014 an empty one. Ontario does export electricity to American states, primarily in the Northeast. But that relationship is bilateral. Canada needs American energy infrastructure at least as much as American states need Ontario\u2019s output \u2014 and the American grid has proven considerably more resilient to diversification than Canadian leaders seem to understand when making threats from positions of fundamental economic dependence.<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s reminder: \u201cMuch of the Electricity, Oil, and Gas that Canada gets is transported through the U.S.A.\u201d That\u2019s the leverage Canada seems to have forgotten it doesn\u2019t have. Threatening to cut power to American businesses while your own electricity and petroleum depend on American infrastructure is a negotiating position built on sand.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone should get these clowns to \u2018fall in line\u2019 or, the consequences for Canada will be far WORSE!\u201d<\/p>\n
The businesses fleeing Canada for the United States aren\u2019t fleeing because of American tariffs. They\u2019re fleeing because of Canadian governance, Canadian taxes, and Canadian policies that make doing business there increasingly untenable. The tariff dispute accelerated the exodus but didn\u2019t create it.<\/p>\n
Ford wants to cut America off from Ontario\u2019s electricity. Trump reminded him that Canada needs America more than America needs Canada.<\/p>\n
The clowns should fall in line. The consequences otherwise will be far worse.<\/p>\n
Trump means it. He usually does.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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