Ontario Hits Back Against Trump Tariffs with Tax on Power Exports

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has announced a 25% surcharge on all electricity the province sells to the United States, with plans to keep the tax in place until tariffs against Canada proposed by President Donald Trump “are off the table for good.” 

The surcharge took effect on March 10, impacting roughly 1.5 million homes and businesses combined across Michigan, Minnesota and New York. Ford’s office estimates the surcharge will generate as much as $400,000 in revenue per day, as part of a strategy from Ontario to “use every tool at its disposal” to shield the province from the impacts of Trump’s on-again/off-again tariff strategy. Ontario is also banning U.S. companies from participating in $30 billion worth of annual government procurement, and will continue to keep all U.S. alcohol off of store shelves.

“President Trump’s tariffs are a disaster for the U.S. economy,” said Ford. “Until the threat of tariffs is gone for good, Ontario won’t back down.”

On March 6, President Trump paused planned 25% tariffs against Mexico and Canada for 30 days, marking the second time he’s delayed the levies in as many months. Even so, Canada’s opening salvo of retaliatory tariffs has remained in place, impacting around C$30 billion ($21 billion) worth of U.S. products, including orange juice, peanut butter, coffee, appliances, cosmetics, motorcycles and paper products. A second wave of levies planned by the Canadian government valued around C$125 billion was put on hold, pending ongoing talks with the Trump administration.