Ontario to suspend electricity surcharge, Ford to meet with Lutnick

Premier Doug Ford says Ontario will suspend its surcharge on electricity exports after talking with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and agreeing to meet with him in Washington, D.C., this week.

Ford and Lutnick have agreed to meet on Thursday to “discuss a renewed” United States-Mexico-Canada-Agreement ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s April 2 reciprocal tariff deadline.

“Both parties are heated and the temperature needs to come down and I thought this was the right decision,” Ford said after the call.

“I believe when someone’s putting out an olive branch, we sit back, we accept it — graciously, by the way — thank him for that opportunity, and let’s start moving,” Ford added.

“All of you folks have seen how President Trump has changed things on a daily basis. I don’t want to wait until April 2. God only knows what would happen from now till April 2. We need to get to the table as quickly as possible.”

WATCH MORE: Premier Doug Ford announces new retaliatory U.S. electricity tax plan

Earlier Tuesday, Trump said he would double the existing tariffs on steel and aluminum he promised to deploy on Canadian products Wednesday — to 50 per cent — in response to Ontario’s 25 per cent surcharge on electricity exports to the U.S.

The surcharge on electricity went into effect Monday, impacting 1.5 million homes in New York, Michigan and Minnesota.

Later Tuesday afternoon, Ford said the Trump administration had agreed to scale the tariff back to 25 per cent after Ontario agreed to drop the surcharge.

This is a developing news story. More to come.

READ MORE: Ontario eyes more trade with countries overseas in wake of U.S. tariffs

– With files from The Canadian Press