Trump says he respects 'very strong man' Ford after Ontario premier suspends electricity surcharge

(UPDATE: March 11 at 12:55 pm): President Donald Trump has referred to Ontario Premier Doug Ford as a "very strong man in Canada" during a press conference this afternoon.

He said Ford had called and said he wouldn't be adding the threatened 25 per cent surcharge on electricity coming into the US, which Trump said "would have been a very bad thing."

"He's not going to do that, so I respect that," the president said, adding: "We've been treated very unfairly by Canada ... but we've been treated very unfairly by every country all over the world."

Trump also said he'll "probably" reduce tariffs on Canada, but didn't provide any further information, saying only that Ford was a "gentleman."

He repeated his now-familiar claims about the US "subsidizing" Canada and said Canada should become a state. Canadian citizen Elon Musk, who was with him at the press conference, said that would be "beautiful."

Trump also said he's "very optimistic" about the US economy, despite choosing not to do things "the easy way."

He has been put under pressure by reporters in recent days after stock markets tumbled in response to his tariff threats.

(UPDATE: March 11 at 12 pm): Ontario Premier Doug Ford has lifted the 25 per cent surcharge he applied to electricity sold into the United States.

Ford said Donald Trump's commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, had provided an "olive branch" by inviting the premier to "immediately" go down to Washington, DC for a meeting.

Ford said he's agreed to "suspend, temporarily" the surcharge on electricity that Ontario sells to the US, but will keep the threat in his "toolbox" for potential use in the future.

That surcharge had caught the attention of Trump, prompting him to write a series of furious messages on Truth Social recently threatening to punish Canada.

He also said he'd slap a 50 per cent tariff on Canadian steel and aluminum on Wednesday, double the rate he previously threatened.

Ford said he'll be heading to Washington in the coming days with Dominic LeBlanc, the federal finance minister, in the hopes of coming to an agreement rather than engaging in "tit for tat" exchanges.

"There's a point that both parties are heated, and the temperature needs to come down," he said.

He added: "We have both agreed, let cooler heads prevail. We need to sit down and move this forward."

Ford said his team will go to the US with "confidence" and "strength."

"We're going to be talking about the USMCA moving forward," he explained, describing the agreement as "a massive deal."

But as for a reciprocal gesture from the US – like dropping the threat of 50 per cent tariffs on aluminum and steel set to go into force tomorrow – Ford said Lutnick will have to "bounce it off the president" but he's "pretty confident" Trump will "pull it back."

(Original story: March 11 at 7:17 am): In his latest outburst against Canada, the US president has threatened to double the steel and aluminum set to go into effect on Wednesday.

Donald Trump said he’s told his commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, to up the tariff to 50 per cent.

That will make it “ONE OF THE HIGHEST TARIFFING NATIONS ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD,” the president wrote in capital letters on his Truth Social platform.

It comes after Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he was reluctantly going ahead with a 25 per cent tariff on electricity the province exports to the US, in response to Trump’s on-again-off-again 25 per cent tariff on all Canadian goods.

Trump also said Canada “must immediately drop” its “anti-American” tariffs on “various US dairy products,” an apparent reference to the country’s tariff-rate quotas.

He added: “If other egregious, long time Tariffs are not likewise dropped by Canada, I will substantially increase, on April 2nd, the Tariffs on Cars coming into the U.S. which will, essentially, permanently shut down the automobile manufacturing business in Canada.”

The president also repeated his desire to annex Canada so the country can belong to “the greatest and most powerful nation in the world.”

He concluded: “The artificial line of separation drawn many years ago will finally disappear, and we will have the safest and most beautiful Nation anywhere in the World — And your brilliant anthem, ‘O Canada,’ will continue to play, but now representing a GREAT and POWERFUL STATE within the greatest Nation that the World has ever seen!”