ford says ontario won't lift u.s. booze ban, continues calling trump a 'bully'
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ontario premier doug ford said the province is standing firm on its ban on american alcohol, and doubled down on previous comments he made calling u.s. president donald trump a “bully” on tuesday.
ford was responding to the u.s. president’s newly announced 50% tariff on goods from canada, including those that comply with the canada-u.s.-mexico agreement (cusma).
“i always say, we can’t keep rolling over for president trump. we can’t back down,” ford told reporters during a media availability as canada’s premiers gathered for the start of the three-day council of the federation meetings in charlottetown.
the trump administration said monday that it would slap tariffs on what it said was canada’s unfair treatment of american alcohol, vehicles and dairy.
those u.s. levies are set to begin in 29 days, according to the white house.
earlier in the day, prime minister mark carney told reporters in ottawa that the u.s. tariffs are “in violation” of cusma, and said he had spoken with trump that morning, with the two agreeing to “intensify negotiations in the coming weeks.”
when asked if he’ll consider retalitory tariffs, carney said canada was looking at all options in deciding how the country would respond if the tariffs do come into effect.
ontario premier: we need to ‘be on the offence’
while ford again pushed for a “full team canada approach,” he urged carney to take decisive action.
“we need the prime minister to come in, and if these talks fail in 29 days, we need to hit him (trump) back as hard as we can.
“i’m tired of the bully trying to take our lunch money all the time,” ford said, adding that canada needs to “be on the offence, not constantly on the defence with president trump.”
ford went on to say, “we need to stand up to the bully, and we need to hit him tariff to tariff — all the way across the board.”
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ontario is among the eight provinces banning u.s. alcohol in retaliation to the tariffs announced by trump last year.
u.s. president says he ‘loves’ canada, but ‘they need us to survive’
speaking to reporters at the white house on tuesday, trump said the tariffs are separate from the ones he threatened to impose on canada last week as wildfire smoke from northern ontario drifted south, leading to poor air quality readings in several u.s. border states.
“canada has been very tough on us over the years,” trump told reporters in the oval office.
“i love canada, i love the people of canada,” he said, but added, “in all fairness to them, they need us to survive. without us, there’s no way they can survive.”
later in the day, ford responded to trump’s comments on nbc’s meet the press, saying, “we need america, but guess what? america needs canada.”
earlier in the interview, ford was asked if his call for retaliatory tariffs was meant to inflict economic pain on americans, to which the premier responded, “i would never do that,” adding, “you know, the president started this economic war against their closest friend and ally.”
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