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Ford's aggressive remarks earn the attention of Trump's commerce secretary

Doug Ford struck his most aggressive tone to date this week as he blamed Donald Trump for "causing chaos" with his tariff threats, and experts say the attacks from Ontario's Conservative premier and appeals to the president's Republican allies might be gaining traction.

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According to a report from the Globe and Mail, confirmed by CBC Toronto, that tone sparked a call from Trump's own commerce secretary Howard Lutnick. He asked Ford to ease up with his rhetoric, a request the premier refused.

Conservative strategist Shakir Chambers said Lutnick's call shows that Ford has managed to grab the attention of people in the White House and his appeals have them concerned. He's also channeling the frustrations of many Canadians who are angrily watching the tariff threats unfold.

Surcharge will generate up to $400K per day to be used for worker, business supports: province

Ontario is imposing a 25 per cent surcharge on all U.S.-bound electricity as part of its retaliatory measures against U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs on Canadian goods.

The new levy took effect Monday and will add about $10 per megawatt-hour to the cost of power heading south, the province says. It will generate an estimated $300,000 to $400,000 per day, money that will be used to support workers and businesses hit by U.S. tariffs.

Liberal Party members have chosen former central banker Mark Carney to be their new leader and the next prime minister of Canada.

Carney secured enough votes in the first round of voting to win the job, party president Sachit Mehra announced.

The details of the conversations between the two leaders, and subsequent discussions among top U.S. and Canadian officials, have not been previously fully reported, and were shared with The New York Times on condition of anonymity by four people with firsthand knowledge of their content. They did not want to be publicly identified discussing a sensitive topic.

On those calls, President Trump laid out a long list of grievances he had with the trade relationship between the two countries, including Canada’s protected dairy sector, the difficulty American banks face in doing business in Canada and Canadian consumption taxes that Mr. Trump deems unfair because they make American goods more expensive.

He also brought up something much more fundamental.

He told Mr. Trudeau that he did not believe that the treaty that demarcates the border between the two countries was valid and that he wants to revise the boundary. He offered no further explanation.

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The federal government is pushing back its second and larger round of retaliatory measures against U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs — but just by one week — in response to his latest move to delay levies on most Canadian and Mexican goods by one month.

“As a result, Canada will not proceed with the second wave of tariffs on $125B of U.S. products until April 2nd, while we continue to work for the removal of all tariffs,” Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc said in a post on X.

Canada has already imposed a 25 per cent tariff on $30 billion in U.S. goods — which remains in place — with another round of tariffs on a wider list of American products, valued at $125 billion, originally expected to come into effect later this month. Those tariffs have now been pushed back until April 2.

President Donald Trump on Thursday signed executive actions that delay for nearly one month tariffs on all products from Mexico and Canada that are covered by the USMCA free trade treaty, a significant walkback of the administration’s signature economic plan that has rattled markets, businesses and consumers.

The executive actions follow a discussion Trump held Thursday with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and negotiations between Canadian and Trump administration officials.

As far as Laken Pavan's family knew, he was backpacking around Europe, soaking up the sights.

But the 17-year-old had a different plan when he left Vancouver in April 2024. First he flew to Turkey. Then to Moscow, and on to Russian-occupied Donetsk in Ukraine.

And it was there that he was recruited as a spy.

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In early May, Laken told her he was in Denmark, working on a farm with some friends. A couple of weeks later, he asked for some money in order to buy a plane ticket to Warsaw. The last time they messaged was on May 22, shortly after he landed in Poland. A few hours later, he was in jail.

Summary

Ontario Premier Doug Ford says the province will permanently cancel its $100 million contract with Elon Musk’s Starlink, even if U.S. tariffs are lifted.

The decision follows Trump’s 25% tariffs on Canadian imports, which prompted Ontario to ban U.S. firms from contracts.

Ford cited Musk’s ties to Trump as a factor and said he is willing to fight potential legal fallout.

Musk previously responded to cancellation threats with a dismissive “Oh well.”

Ontario Premier Doug Ford says the province plans on moving ahead with a tax on electricity sent to several U.S. states starting early next week.

Ford said the 25 per cent tax will be announced on Monday, with it likely being enacted on Tuesday.

“We are moving forward with it. I feel terrible for the American people because it’s not the American people, and it’s not even the elected officials, it’s one person and that’s President (Donald) Trump.” Ford told 640Toronto radio host Ben Mulroney on Thursday.

“It’s totally unacceptable, but he’s coming after his closest friends, closest allies in the world and it’s going to absolutely devastate both economies.”

U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday he will temporarily waive tariffs on products from Mexico that fall under the North American free trade agreement, two days after launching a continental trade war.

The announcement did not mention Canada, which is also facing sweeping tariffs on all goods entering the U.S., despite Trump’s commerce secretary saying earlier that both countries would “likely” see a reprieve. It came shortly after Trump levelled new attacks against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau following a heated exchange Wednesday.

“After speaking with President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico, I have agreed that Mexico will not be required to pay Tariffs on anything that falls under the USMCA Agreement,” Trump wrote on Truth Social following a scheduled call between the two leaders.

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Thursday that his phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump was "colourful" with moments of tension as the two hashed out how to bring the American-led trade war to an end.

Trudeau said negotiations are ongoing to secure some form of tariff relief for certain sectors, but warned there's no sign that Trump is willing to drop his levies entirely and it's likely a trade dispute will continue "for the foreseeable future."

Trudeau said there are ongoing discussions to have all of the tariffs dropped until April 2, when Trump is expected to impose another layer of retaliatory tariffs on all countries he claims are ripping off the U.S. But those talks have not been finalized and Trudeau said he was reluctant to comment until there is something concrete to announce.

The prime minister acknowledged that the 50-minute conversation between the two men on Wednesday was heated, but said it was a "substantive" call and that there could be a resolution to these issues, at least in the short term.

"Since Donald Trump began his tariff threats against Canada and his ‘jokes’ about making Canada the 51st US state, I have not bought a single product originating in the US,” said Lynne Allardice, 78, a retired business owner from New Brunswick, Canada.

“Not a single lettuce leaf or piece of fruit. I have become an avid reader of labels and have adopted an ‘anywhere but the US’ policy when shopping. I will not visit the States while Trump remains in office, and most of the people I know have adopted the same policy.”"

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Many Canadians have responded to Trump’s economic tariffs and political messaging with a consumer boycott of US products and services – no more California wines or American Bourbon; local shopping instead of Amazon Prime; analogue entertainment and cable TV instead of Netflix and Spotify; holidays in the Kootenays instead of Disney World.