As a North American trade war breaks out, Ontario Premier Doug Ford has gone on the offensive on U.S. television attacking Trump’s executive order to impose tariffs on Canada starting Feb. 4th.
Speaking on CNN on Saturday evening just prior to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s announcement of retaliatory tariffs on Canada’s largest trading partner, Ford characterized the response as “unfortunate” but suggested Trump “underestimates…the resilience of the Canadian people.”
President Trump’s decision to tariff Canada is extremely disappointing and will hurt millions of workers on both sides of the border. We don’t want to be here, but make no mistake: Canada will hit back and we’ll hit back hard. pic.twitter.com/BcqMR4yfq3
— Doug Ford (@fordnation) February 2, 2025
During the 9 minute exchange Ford debunked the reason Trump imposed the tariffs, called them “illegal” and suggested how they would hurt the American people.
Here’s the full transcript of CNN’s interview with Doug Ford
CNN: Doug Ford, thank you so much for being here with us. These tariffs are brand new just signed within the last hour. I first just want your initial reaction, because you have said you plan to bring down economic punishment on America in response to these. What do you think comes next?
Doug Ford: Well, first of all, Jessica, I just want to send our prayers and thoughts to the family that lost loved ones in the aviation accident. It’s a tragedy, as for the tariffs that was unjustified, it’s unfair, and frankly, it was illegal, breaking a deal that we had for the USMCA deal, and it’s disappointing.
You know, Canada and Canadians love the U.S.. I love the U.S.. I love the American people. We’re your closest ally and trading partner, your largest export destination in the entire world. This is going to hurt Americans. It’s going to hurt Canadians. We’re going to see inflation happen down the US and in Canada, and it’s unjustified.
CNN: And so what steps will Canada take next? I mean, we are expecting to hear from your Prime Minister, [he’s] supposed to speak within the hour. But what do you think happens? What does Canada do next?
Doug Ford: Well, we’ll have retaliatory measures. It’s unfortunate. We don’t want to do it. We’d rather have a strong trading partner with the U.S. than build an AMCAN fortress. We want to ship down more products, more critical minerals, more oil. That’s what we want to do.
But I can assure you what President Trump underestimates is the resilience of the Canadian people, the strength of the Canadian people, no matter what political strength you come from in Canada, we’re united. We’re a united country, and we’re a proud country.
CNN: And when you say retaliatory measures, is that retaliatory tariffs? You believe.
Doug Ford: Yes, there’ll be retaliatory tariffs, and the Prime Minister will announce that shortly.
CNN: And is there any sense? Do you have any more details on those before I move on from that?
Doug Ford: I’ll leave that up to the Prime Minister to speak for the country. But what I can tell you, we’re the number one export destination for 28 states across the country. Ontario alone.
We’re the number one trading partner, number one customer, per se, for 17 states, and number two to 11 others, we do $500 billion of trade on both sides of the border split equally down the center, and 9 million Americans wake up every morning Jessica to produce products for Ontario alone, not to mention the rest of the country.
What’s really disturbing when President Trump is using fentanyl as a reason, lumping us in with Mexico, when in China, the figures from U.S. Customs is very clear.
There’s over 9600 kilos of fentanyl coming from Mexico. Ours is 19 kilos, which is too much, which is .001 per cent of fentanyl, compared to Mexico coming into the US, compared to over 25,000 kilos of narcotics, be it heroin or cocaine, opioids coming from the US into Canada.
We have a strong relationship with the U.S. Customs, our customs officers work collaboratively, collaboratively with them, working with the DEA or RCMP is working collaboratively. I can tell the American people, Canada is not the problem. The problem is the Mexican border and China. That’s where the problem is.
CNN: And do you have any sense yet of timing, do you, as the king is a member of the Canadian government know when the US tariffs on Canadian products will take place.
Doug Ford: Well what I understand, what I’ve heard is that they’re going to be very soon, almost immediate. And why President Trump would want to attack his largest customer, his largest trading partner, closet ally, this goes all the way back to 1867. We have stood shoulder to shoulder with Americans during WW1, WW2, 9-11.
We sent our troops over to stand shoulder to shoulder with American troops. We lost soldiers standing up for our family and we consider the U.S. part of our family.
CNN: I am curious what you think the relationship will be like going forward between Canada and the U.S. and if you all have any sense, because the sense that we’ve gotten from our reporting is that, especially for the Canadian representatives, it’s a bit nebulous, in fact, a lot nebulous as to exactly what you’re supposed to do to to get rid of these tariffs. What is the marker for, I mean, it’s very wide, it’s no fentanyl deaths in the U.S., but, but what does that practically look like?
Doug Ford: Well, that’s just not realistic when you know we’re responsible for point .001 per cent compared to Mexico. I think the President has to look at the southern border. He has to work with the Mexican president. He has to work with this DEA, to stop the flow of drugs and the precursors that are coming up from China into Mexico, up through the United States and into Canada.
As I said, we have over 25,000 kilos that has been apprehended coming from the U.S. into Canada. 95 per cent of all illegal guns are coming in to Canada that are being used in heinous crimes, and illegals are coming up.
My point is, let’s work together. Let’s work collaboratively, together and protect our borders on both sides of the borders. We’re the two strongest nations in the world if we work together.
The U.S. is reliant on our crude oil, on our uranium, on our potash, on our high grade nickel on our electricity. Ontario powers 1.5 million homes. It keeps the lights on in New York, in Michigan, in Minnesota, in many other areas, we need to work together. We’re stronger together.
CNN: And how do you expect this to go in terms of the effects on your economy, the American economy, but you know, these, these two border nations, what do you think the effect is going to be in the short term?
Doug Ford: Well, it’s going to be terrible. It’s going to make Americans poor, it’s going to create inflation, it’s going to make Canadians poor. It’s going to really hurt both economies. And all we’re saying is, let’s work together.
Please do not lump us in with Mexico and China. We’re your closest ally, your number one customer, and we stood shoulder to shoulder on many, many different fronts. We love the Americans and we love the U.S..
CNN: You know, it’s interesting, because I hear what you’re saying, and if you look at the numbers, you’re right. There is a false equivalency between Canada and Mexico, and what is coming in from the southern border, and what is coming in from the northern border with Canada. And I hear your frustration, and so my question to you is, what’s the alternative here? Do you think that it should just be tariffs on Mexico? No tariffs on Canada? What would you suggest?
Doug Ford: Oh, that’s up to the President to decide, but we are no Mexico. We’re connected Canadians, we’re strong, we’re resilient, we’re proud, and we’re going to stand up for what’s right.
What’s right is making sure that we protect our economy, protect the people, protect the families and protect the communities right across this great country of ours. And again, we have no animosity towards the American people or the U.S. as a whole. We love them, and a lot of Americans live in Canada, and a lot of Canadians live in the US.
CNN: All right. Doug Ford, we are expecting to now see tariffs on American goods going into Canada. Thank you so much for being here with us. We really appreciate it.
Doug Ford: Well, Jessica, thank you so much and God bless Canada and God Bless America.
