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TORONTO — Ontario Premier Doug Ford and federal Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc suggested Wednesday they want to come out of a meeting with a top U.S. official with a “coherent plan” for the tariff road ahead.
The pair, along with Kirsten Hillman, Canada’s ambassador to the United States, are set to meet Thursday in Washington, D.C., with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, who invited Ford on Tuesday amid a major ratcheting up — then down — of the trade war between the two countries.
The Canadian politicians said they hope for a cordial meeting that will take the temperature down, though it will come after Lutnick and U.S. President Donald Trump made comments referring to Ford as “some guy in Ontario” and his “little threat” to put a surcharge on electricity exports to the U.S.
“I said, ‘This will be won in one hour,’ and (we) announced what we were going to do and they withdrew their little threat,” Trump said Wednesday.
The U.S. has imposed tariffs of 25 per cent on steel and aluminum imports effective Wednesday and the Canadian government announced tariffs on U.S. goods worth nearly $30 billion in retaliation.
Trump had threatened Tuesday to set the steel and aluminum tariff at 50 per cent in response to Ontario placing a surcharge on electricity it exports to three U.S. states, but both sides agreed to back off those moves after Lutnick offered the meeting.
Ford said he expects to talk about the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement with Lutnick and hopes to move up a review of the USMCA set for next year.
“I want to make sure everyone understands the expectation is to go down there, build that relationship, talk about the USMCA,” he said Wednesday outside his office.
“We aren’t walking away with the USMCA, but for years being in business, it’s all about building the relationship, understanding what they require, what our needs are, and move forward.”
Ford also said he wants an end to the frenetic tariff back-and-forth.
“I want to find out where their bar is set,” he said. “Rather than keep moving the goalpost, I want to find out how quickly you want to move forward and see what their requirements are.”
LeBlanc, however, said he does not see Thursday’s meeting as one about the USMCA. He hopes to talk about the tariffs that are in place now and others that are set to come into effect April 2.
“The conversation tomorrow will be around lowering the temperature and focusing on the process that President Trump set up where Secretary Lutnick has up to April 2 to determine a series of global tariff decisions,” he said.
But if one of the three parties to the USMCA wants to begin a review earlier than 2026, Canada is ready, LeBlanc said.
“We’ve always said the best approach is a coherent conversation that looks at all of these issues, where the three economies are part of the conversation, and where we can arrive at the best agreement for North America,” he said.
“That’s been the success of previous conversations, but for the moment, it’s difficult to get there, because day over day, week over week, you have these decisions. So if we can sort of clear the underbrush and get to a position where we can get to April 2 with a coherent plan, I certainly think that would be the objective of the conversation tomorrow.”
Lutnick told Fox Business he expects to have a “nice conversation” with Ford to “lower the temperature” and will save the details for when Canada has a new prime minister after a possibly looming election.
“I think it’s just to level-set things, make sure we know each other,” Lutnick said. “And then we are going to negotiate with all of Canada, so obviously we are going to wait for there to be a new prime minister and then we’re going to talk.”
Those comments come after others Lutnick made the previous day to CBS, describing Trump’s threat to increase the steel and aluminum tariffs to 50 per cent as a tactic to “break some guy in Ontario” who put a surcharge on energy.
Ford brushed aside those remarks, saying the U.S. can call the end result a win if they want.
“Whatever,” he said. “They’re playing politics. (It’s neither) here nor there.”
The premier met Wednesday morning with prime minister-designate Mark Carney to discuss tariffs and free trade. The two had a productive discussion, agreeing on the need to stand firm in the face of Trump’s tariffs, Ford said.
Having Carney as the prime minister could help turn a page in the Canada-U.S. relationship, Ford predicted.
“It’s going to be a better relationship than with Prime Minister (Justin) Trudeau and no disrespect to Prime Minister Trudeau, I can tell you one thing, Mark Carney (has an) extremely astute business mind,” he said.
“He understands numbers, and so does President Trump and Secretary Lutnick. I think they’re going to get along very well. They both come from the same financial sectors.”
Ford, who is head of the group of Canada’s 13 premiers, also had a call Wednesday morning with the other provincial leaders. He said he would get advice from his counterparts ahead of the discussion.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 12, 2025.
Allison Jones, The Canadian Press
