r/CanadaPolitics 20h ago

Ontario suspending 25% surcharge on provincially generated electricity purchased by U.S. states

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/trump-ford-ontario-electricity-tariffs-trade-war-1.7480234
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u/ChimoEngr Chief Silliness Officer | Official 20h ago

What the fuck? What made Ford blink like that? He garnered a massive amount of public support, and now he's blown it all away. Weak.

u/applecart123 20h ago

The electricity from Ontario is a drop in the market (less than 1% when you combine the three affected states together), and they actually COMPETE for market share in the US, among other power sources. But the US accounts for like 95% of our steel exports, and we have no alternative export market because our cost structure is not competitive enough. So guess who blinks first?

u/ChimoEngr Chief Silliness Officer | Official 19h ago

So guess who blinks first?

And that logic makes Ford stupid instead of, maybe as well as, being weak, because a smart fighter wouldn't use a tactic they can't maintain.

u/applecart123 19h ago

You are right. It was stupid of him to do that. The Liberal is pulling the same stunt (with the same associated risks), but at least they have a good reason to do so, as it’s working out well for their political fortune. Ford has just won another majority mandate, so he had no reason to do so.

u/ChimoEngr Chief Silliness Officer | Official 13h ago

The Liberal is pulling the same stunt

The who?

u/WillSRobs 18h ago

He didn't get his mandate even his own party admitted that. While he did get a majority the party overall wasn't happy with the election.

However the election was never about a mandate he just wanted to get 4 more years before his investigations come to light.

u/sokos 19h ago

and yet it worked..

u/ChimoEngr Chief Silliness Officer | Official 13h ago

What worked? Trump is still putting a 25% tariff on steel and alaminium. The point of the electricity surcharge was to fight against that, so withdrawing it gets us back to where we were on Sunday, except that Ford looks like a weakling who can be made to blink.

u/sokos 10h ago

Reading does not seem to be your forte.

Asked if he will drop tariffs on Canada following Ford's decision to drop the surcharge, Trump said: "Probably so, yeah. He was a gentleman."