Ontario Premier Doug Ford is condemning Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, saying their imposition will mean the auto sector “will shut down within 10 days.”
Ford told reporters Tuesday that Trump’s 25 per cent levy on the vast majority of Canadian imports will crush the closely intertwined industry.
“Assembly lines and the auto sector will shut down within 10 days, I predict. Hopefully they won’t, but I’m predicting they’ll shut down because of the trade that we do back and forth,” Ford said.
“Parts, as you’ve heard many times, go back and forth up to eight times, each time hitting a 25 per cent tariff on both sides of the border. I am almost positive the assembly plants will shut down on both sides of the border.”
After threatening to impose them for months, Trump followed through on his tariff promise Tuesday. Aside from the blanket tariff on imported Canadian and Mexican goods, Canadian energy was hit with a lower, 10 per cent levy. Meanwhile, China was slapped with a 10 per cent tariff.
Ottawa and the provinces have vowed a strong response: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has said it will impose tariffs on $30 billion worth of U.S. goods immediately, and further tariffs on $125 billion worth of American products 21 days later.
Ford said Tuesday he is following through with previously announced measures, including ripping up a $100-million deal with Elon Musk’s SpaceX for Starlink internet in remote areas. The LCBO has also been ordered to remove U.S. alcohol from its shelves, and its website was temporarily down Tuesday morning as it was removing those products for online shoppers.
Ford also said the province would be looking into canceling all contracts it has with American companies regardless of any legal ramifications.
Furthermore, Ford said he could legislate Buy Ontario, and went on U.S. television threatening to cut off energy to some states if tariffs hit. His team has said those threats wouldn’t happen all at once, and would be phased in.
American unions like United Auto Workers have criticized the regional auto sector approach, claiming North American free trade rules have allowed automakers to invest more in Canada and Mexico while hollowing out the U.S. auto sector.
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Trump has vowed to bring those jobs back to the U.S. — a point frequently raised by Ford. During his snap election campaign, his PC party outlined several measures to be taken if tariffs were imposed, including creating a $5-billion Protect Ontario Account to support major industries and workers.
The party would also enhance termination and severance rights for workers affected by tariff-related layoffs and closures, and spend $38 million on “action centres” to help people transition into other jobs if there are layoffs as a result of U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods.
Homebuilding sector would also be damaged
The impact of Trump’s tariffs won’t be isolated to the automotive sector.
The Ontario Home Builders’ Association (OHBA) said Tuesday that just the threat of tariffs over the past few months has created “considerable uncertainty and hurt the industry.”
Now that they have been implemented and the Canadian response is coming, these measures will be “effectively pulling the rug out” from under the housing sector.
“I spoke to a builder recently who sold two houses in all of 2024. The market is already in a bad place, and there’s no saying how bad the fallout from this additional threat will be,” Scott Andison, CEO of the OHBA, said in a news release.
“Builders across the province are struggling to survive, and this unwarranted act of economic aggression is going to be even more devastating for them.”
Richard Lyall, president of the Residential Construction Council of Ontario, echoed the OHBA’s concerns.
“The residential construction industry on both sides of the border is already in dire straits due to a perfect storm of issues and this completely unwarranted and reckless act will only cause more economic hardship for builders on both sides of the border. The U.S. National Association of Home Builders shares our view that tariffs and affordability are bad on both sides of the border,” Lyall said in a statement.
“Tariffs will make it more costly for building materials and, in the end, the costs of these unnecessary levies will be passed on to consumers. This will lead to a further slowdown in residential construction activity and exacerbate our already dire housing affordability crisis.”
Trump has repeatedly cited the flow of fentanyl as the reason for imposing tariffs on Canada and Mexico.
Trudeau said Tuesday that excuse was “completely bogus.”
“We actually have to fold back on the one thing he has said repeatedly — that what he wants is to see a total collapse of the Canadian economy, because that will make it easier to annex us, is the second half of his thought.”
That’s “never going to happen,” he said.
Ford agreed with Trudeau Tuesday.
“[Trump] wants to close down plants [and] take food off our table,” he said.
“But I can tell the Canadian population and the Ontario population: We’ll fight like we’ve never fought before.”
— with files from Isaac Callan, Colin D’Mello, Sean Boynton and Saba Aziz
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