Michigan governor visits Toronto to ‘strengthen’ relationship with Ontario

While visiting Premier Doug Ford at Queen’s Park today, the Governor of Michigan said both sides of the border are feeling the pinch from U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Democrat governor Gretchen Whitmer says she was in Toronto today to strengthen the relationship between Michigan and Ontario amid ongoing tariff woes.

Ford says approximately $61 billion-worth in goods cross between Ontario and Michigan each year, especially auto parts for car manufacturing.

The meeting comes just a day after President Trump reiterated his calls for Canada to become the 51st state, slapping 10 per cent tariffs on lumber and 25 per cent on furniture.

Whitmer says the levies are already taking their toll on her state.

“Tariffs have been incredibly challenging for Michigan,” she says.

“We grow things and we make things, it is agriculture that was hit so hard and manufacturing that was hit so hard and that’s who we are, that’s what we do. There’s a saying in the United States, when we catch a cold, Michigan gets the flu. We feel the pain of tariffs harder and faster than almost any state. And that’s why I’m trying to make sure we get back to a USMCA and why it’s important that we strengthen this relationship, so we have a good relationship, not an adversarial one.”

“We’re each others largest trading partner,” Ford said.

“We do approximately $61 billion of two-way trade between Michigan and Ontario. And as we all know, and I’ve mentioned a hundred times, parts in the auto sector can go back and forth over the border three, four, five, six times before the car is built in Michigan or in Ontario.”

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