Ontario Premier Doug Ford on Tuesday said he was temporarily suspending his province’s planned 25% surcharge on electricity exported to the United States after the U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick agreed to renewed trade talks.
Ford said that he and Lutnick “had a productive conversation about the economic relationship between the United States and Canada” earlier Tuesday.
“We have both agreed, let cooler heads prevail,” Ford told reporters, hours after U.S. President Donald Trump escalated an already hot trade war by saying he would raise tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium imports to 50%.
Trump announced those heightened tariffs on the heels of Ford, saying he would impose the surcharge on electricity imports.
He said Lutnick agreed to meet with Ford and the U.S. trade representative in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to discuss a renewed United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement.
Trump has said he will impose tariffs of 25% on goods imported from Canada beginning April 2. [CNBC]
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