Tonight. Donald Trump throwing Canada into chaos after calling Canada a state and calling its prime minister. Governor Justin Trudeau comes as Trump's nemesis in Canada. The country's deputy prime minister, Chrystia Freeland, who's also its finance minister, is gone. She abruptly resigned after clashing with Prime Minister Trudeau, saying he is not doing enough to stand up to Trump and Trump's threat of 25% tariffs on every single good that comes into the United States from Canada. Trump calls her toxic, but there is another top Canadian official now taking Trump on tonight. Canadian official threatens to cut off energy to the United States
- Ontario Premier Doug Ford. He is calling for his country to use every tool in our toolbox. A direct quote including cutting off Canadian energy to the United States.
- If Trump follows through with this threat warning, quote, the Americans are going to feel the pain as well.
- Premier Ford is OutFront with me tonight. And, Premier, I appreciate your time, and I want to just start here with your proposal itself.
- What exactly does cutting off Canadian energy to the United States look like? Well, first of all, Erin, thanks for having me on. You know, that's the last thing I want to do.
- I want to sell more electricity, more power, to our U.S. friends and closest allies in the world. But that's a tool that we have in our toolbox.
- We power over 1.5 million homes. And in Michigan, and companies in Michigan and New York state and Wisconsin, that's the last thing I want to do.
- I want to sell more energy to the U.S. I want to sell more critical minerals to the US. Again, we are the closest trading partner and closest allies.
- We do $1.3 trillion of two-way trade. That's more than Japan, China, the UK, and France combined. I just feel we aren't the enemy. The big problem, in my opinion, is China. cheap Chinese products going through Mexico.
- They're slapping a made in Mexico sticker on it and shipping it up through the U.S. and Canada and costing American and Canadian jobs.
- So, you know, when you talk about that, Americans will feel the pain if you have to go through with this. You know, you specifically threatened to turn off the lights to a million and a half Americans. And I say that just because if you're specifically talking about electricity coming into the U.S. from Canada, that only makes up about 1% of annual U.S. electricity consumption.
That's according to the EIA here in the U.S. But, Premier, when it comes to crude oil, if you go bigger, you're looking at Canadian exports to the U.S.
You know, 60% of America's total oil imports come from Canada. So do you want to go bigger in this? You know, if these tariffs are going to go through, will you, should you, reciprocate with tariffs not just on electricity but on crude oil itself? Well, we shipped down 4.3 million barrels every single day. If there were a tariff on that, that would increase gas by a dollar a gallon.
That wouldn't go over very well. And, you know, both sides of the border are going to feel the pain. We rely on each other. Ontario is a big auto province. And I just want to work with the U.S. I love the American people. I've spent 20 years of my life there in Chicago, in our Chicago facility in New Jersey.
Canadian official threatens to cut off energy to the United States) blogsrabbi
I love Americans, I love the US, and we're so much stronger together. Let's build 40 million, and let's onshore these products from China and create more American and Canadian. So can I just ask you, taking a step back, and I know some of the stuff Trump had posted, you know, you referred again to Canada as a state?
He referred again to Prime Minister Trudeau as a governor. It's not the first time he had posted that AI-generated image of himself standing next to the Canadian flag with the caption, Oh, Canada! And that was after Prime Minister Trudeau flew down to Mar-a-Lago unannounced to meet with Trump about his tariff threat.
Where, you know, Trump joked that Canada could become the 51st state. So, can we just take a step back? I know in some of this, he's sort of making a joke, but he's doing it again and again and again. And obviously, you know, it is demeaning.
Canadian official
I mean, how do you respond to that he keeps referring to Canada as a state and the leader of your country as a governor? Well, it's up to the premiers, like myself, which is equivalent to governors down in the U.S. It's our job to go down and inform Americans, or we have a large ad campaign going on in the US to inform them that we are their number one trading partner, number one ally in the entire world. The supply chains are so integrated.
Energy to the United States) blogsrabbi
We're so much stronger together. The only people that win, Erin, are China. Americans lose, Canadians lose. And that's the problem. Mexico has to make a decision. You're either with Beijing or you're with Washington. I'll tell you what.
Canadians are with their Washington. So do you take Trump seriously when he mocks Canada, or do you think that that's just, you know, his negotiating tactic? You know, he has a sense of humor, but I'm more concerned about the trade and making sure that we secure trade on both sides of the border. And this is pretty simple.
The president is asked to secure a border. I agree with him 1,000%. We need to secure a border. We're going to secure our border. We have to meet our 2% commitment to NATO. And, we're going to do both. So those are two aspects that we're going to get done.
I've been saying it well before President Trump was elected that we have to meet the 2%, we have to secure our borders, and then we move forward and sit down and have a discussion. I'd love to sit down with the president, a businessman, and have a conversation with them because we are so much stronger together. All right. Well, Premier Ford, I appreciate your time tonight, and thank you.
