‘Fasten your seatbelt’ Ford warns on pending CUSMA renegotiation with Trump following meeting with Carney

Ontario Premier Doug Ford on Canada’s approach to negotiations with the U.S. and what needs to be done to stimulate the province’s economy.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is warning that he believes U.S. President Donald Trump will be coming at Canada with “double barrels” when it comes time to renegotiate the existing free trade deal between the countries, known as the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).

“Fasten your seatbelts. CUSMA or USMCA – whatever you want to call it – he (Trump) is coming at us hard. He is going to come at us with everything he has and we have to make sure that that we’re ready,” Ford told reporters at Queen’s Park Wednesday.

He added that while the deal is not set to be renegotiated until next year, Trump could “pull the carpet out from underneath us” at any time and said in his opinion, the U.S. president could move to reopen the deal as early as November.

“This isn’t gonna be a church picnic,” Ford said, referring to the pending renegotiation of the massive trade deal.

He made the comments following a meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney and the other premiers about Canada’s latest response in the trade war.

Ford said he has no knowledge about any call that is scheduled to take place between Carney and Trump but he expects that the two leaders will chat in the coming days.

He said Canada needs to onshore as much of its production as possible in order to help mitigate against the impact of the trade war. He suggested lowering taxes and interest rates in order to stimulate the economy and using more domestic steel and other local materials.

“I’m praying that everything’s going to go fine, but if it doesn’t, I gotta ask the people, do you trust President Trump? I don’t. Do you?” Ford said.

Ford expressed confidence earlier Wednesday in Canada’s ability to fight tariffs, but offered few details from his conversations with key decision-makers to shed light on Canada’s response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest salvo in the trade war.

While speaking with reporters at an unrelated transit announcement, he said he’s spoken with Prime Minister Mark Carney, Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc, and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick since the U.S. imposed 35 per cent tariffs Friday on Canadian goods not covered under an existing free trade pact.

“I had an opportunity to speak to the prime minister and Minister LeBlanc and had an opportunity to talk to Secretary Lutnick, and Canada has a good, solid plan to move forward,” Ford told reporters.

He didn’t offer any specifics on the conversations, which he described as “confidential” but reiterated that he believes Carney is doing “everything in his power to get a fair trade deal” with the U.S.

“Secretary Lutnick, I had a good conversation yesterday with him. And yeah, no it was positive. It was positive,” Ford said.

He pointed out that aside from China, Canada is currently the only other country in the world with tariffs on U.S. goods and said the country needs to bargain from a position of strength, imposing dollar-for dollar tariffs to match the U.S.

“We respect them, but it has to go both ways. You can’t have tariffs on one side and not the other,” Ford said. “I still stand by what I say, dollar for dollar, tariff for tariff. They understand strength, not weakness, and we should never, ever roll over and be weak.”

While he wants Canada to strike back at the U.S. with matching tariffs, Ford said he is not at odds with Carney over the issue.

Canada imposed a 25 per cent tariff on some U.S. goods in February but has not so far escalated its response.

“Let me be very clear: I’m 100 per cent supportive of the prime minister and the federal government, and when you sit around a family dinner table, you discuss all sorts of ideas, and that’s what we’re going to do,” Ford said.

However he pointed out that U.S. companies are feeling the sting of tariffs, particularly in the auto sector. He cited poor U.S. job numbers and rattled off a list of U.S. companies who are reporting higher costs due to tariffs.

“He (Trump) said it would create economic growth. He said it’d create jobs. I went out there the same time and said it’s going to be a disaster, tariffs on Canada is going to be a tax on Americans. So far, this is what’s happened,” Ford said. “It’s hurting American companies.”

On Tuesday, Carney announced plans to help protect Canada’s softwood lumber industry amid the trade war.