Ontario's premier just threatened to leave 1.5 million American homes in the dark.
Doug Ford, the man who controls a significant chunk of electricity flowing into three U.S. states, decided Monday that he's done playing nice. After the U.S. slapped a 50% tariff on approximately $20 billion worth of Canadian goods when trade negotiations fell apart, Ford went full scorched earth at a press conference. He put power exports and critical mineral access on the chopping block, as reported here, telling reporters that everything is on the table and he'll do whatever it takes.
"You won't get a grain of sand out of Ontario," Ford declared, which is a wild thing to say when your province literally powers portions of Michigan, New York, and Minnesota through cross-border electrical connections.
Ottawa had already revealed plans for retaliatory tariffs before Ford decided to personally escalate things by dangling the light switch over America's head. Because apparently regular tariffs are for amateurs.
Trump, never one to let an insult go unanswered, hopped on Truth Social to call Ford the "overall unimpressive brother of the late, great, Rob Ford." That's the former Toronto mayor and city councilman who passed away in 2016. So Trump essentially complimented a guy's deceased sibling while roasting him. A truly unique diplomatic strategy.
The president then pinned Canada's problems on "bad leadership" from Prime Minister Mark Carney and someone he dubbed "Flunky Ford." Trump told the Canadian leaders to "fall in line," which prompted Ford to deliver the most Canadian rebellion in history by responding with "kiss my a**."
Here's the thing though. Ford has pulled this exact move before. During a trade dust-up last year, he made the same power cutoff threat, then sat down with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and everyone calmed down over what one can only assume was a very tense bilateral conversation.
So we've essentially watched this movie before. The sequel just has spicier language.
Meanwhile, Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre tried to be the adult in the room, calling for Parliament to reconvene so Canadians can get answers about how negotiations collapsed, what tariffs will cost families, and how jobs will be protected. Reasonable questions that absolutely nobody involved in the name-calling contest seems interested in addressing.
To recap the current state of U.S.-Canada relations: one side imposed 50% tariffs, the other side threatened to turn off the lights in three states, the president called a foreign leader a flunky, and that leader told him to kiss his backside. Diplomacy in 2025 is really something special.
Three American states now wait to find out if their electricity supply depends on whether two guys can stop insulting each other long enough to negotiate. Michigan, New York, and Minnesota might want to stock up on candles. Just in case.
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