Ontario Prime Minister Doug Ford acts “blatant” and “insulting” with his threat to cut the electricity to the Americans on prices, says the White House.
Ontario Prime Minister Doug Ford acts “obvious” and “insulting” with his threat to cut the electricity for the Americans on prices, the White House said on Tuesday.
The white house press secretary Karoline Leavitt remarked after Ford imposed 25% prices on electricity exports from the Canadian province to the States of Michigan, New York and Minnesota on Monday. He also declared “if necessary, if the United States degenerates, I will not hesitate to close the electricity completely”.
In response, Trump said on Truth Social that he asked the commercial secretary, Howard Lunick, to add an additional 25% rate on all steel and aluminum from the United States from Canada. This new 50% price will come into force on Wednesday morning.
“Regarding the prices, the president clarified his position on this subject with the declaration he published. And it was a declaration of reprisals because of the climbing of the rhetoric we saw of Ontario, in Canada.
Trump threatens other rates on Canadian steel, aluminum, electricity, vehicles
Ontario Prime Minister Doug Ford responds to the new 25% rates of US President Donald Trump on imports from Mexico and Canada, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, March 4. (Reuters / Kyaw SOE OO)
“He made this threat. The president saw this and has an obligation and a responsibility to respond accordingly and to represent the interests of the American people,” she continued.
“He therefore made the decision to add a price of 25%, so now the steel and aluminum rates will come into force tomorrow at the rate of 50%. And our steel and aluminum industries have in fact applauded these prices, because again, they know that they will develop their industry here. It will allow them to export more steel.
She also declared Tuesday to “think about what the pricing policy would do in the long term for our country”.
“I think many of us probably grew up in small towns. I know, at least I did it. And the main street of my little town looks much worse than it was probably decades, before I was alive at least, my parents and grandparents tell me. And I know that many Americans feel that,” Leavitt told journalists.
The aluminum giant sounds alarm in front of Trump’s new price threat
The press secretary of the White House, Karoline Leavitt, holds a press briefing at the White House in Washington, DC, on Tuesday March 11. (Reuters / Kevin Lamarque / Reuters)
“What the president plans for this country is that the United States of America is a manufacturing superpower, where there are factories and American companies belonging to Americans producing goods that we export to the rest of the world,” she said. “These income will stay here. This will increase the salaries of people here in our big country. This will ensure our national security, and it will strengthen the morale of the American people to have flourishing industries again.”
Addressing journalists in front of a podium who said “Canada is not for sale,” Ford said on Monday that electricity overload would cost families and businesses in Michigan, New York and Minnesota up to $ 400,000 each day. On average, the Prime Minister of Ontario said that he would add about $ 100 per month to “workers’ bills”.
President Donald Trump qualified Canada on Tuesday “one of the highest pricing nations in the world”. (Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images / Getty Images)
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“Let me be clear: I will not hesitate to increase this charge,” said Ford. “If necessary, if the United States degenerates, I will not hesitate to close the electricity completely. Believe me when I say that I do not want to do it. I feel terrible for the American people because it is not the American people who started this trade war. It is a person who is responsible. It is President Trump.”
Danielle Wallace of Fox Business contributed to this report.
