US President Donald Trump has announced he will double planned tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium imports to 50 percent, escalating a trade war with the United States’s northern neighbour.
In a social media post on Tuesday morning, Trump said the increased tariffs come in response to a decision by the province of Ontario to put a 25-percent surcharge on electricity exports to some US states.
He said the increased tariffs on steel and aluminium would come into effect on Wednesday.
“The only thing that makes sense is for Canada to become our cherished Fifty First State. This would make all Tariffs, and everything else, totally disappear,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
US-Canada relations have plummeted amid Trump’s push to impose steep tariffs on a range of Canadian goods and his repeated threats to annex the country.
The US president has said the tariffs are part of an effort to balance the countries’ trade relationship. But the Canadian government has rejected the measures as “unjustified” and unveiled retaliatory levies.
On Monday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced that his government would impose a 25-percent surcharge on electricity exports to the US states of Michigan, Minnesota and New York.
Ford – who has taken a strong line against Trump’s economic policies – told reporters that Ontario electricity powers 1.5 million American homes and businesses in those US states.
The surcharge, the premier said, would cost families and businesses as much as $276,000 ($400,000 Canadian dollars) per day.
“Let me be clear, I will not hesitate to increase this charge. If necessary, if the United States escalates, I will not hesitate to shut the electricity off completely,” Ford said.
