U.S. should feel pain in tariff war, Ontario Premier Doug Ford says

The United States needs to feel the pain in response to Donald Trump’s latest tariff war escalation, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Monday as he and the president traded insults.

Ford had earlier said on Toronto radio that Trump should “kiss my ass” after the president threatened further tariffs on the auto and steel sectors that could come into play on Jan. 1, 2027.

Ford doubled down at a news conference in Hamilton.

“I have a lot of real estate on my ass, so he has a lot a room to kiss my ass,” Ford said with a smile.

Ford said he was against last week’s proposed trade deal before the Canada-U.S. negotiations fell apart and called for a strong response to new 50 per cent tariffs on $28 billion of Canadian exports. He said Prime Minister Mark Carney has his full support.

“We’ll see how this goes, but he wants to put pain on Canadians,” Ford said of Trump. “We’ll leverage every bit of pain we possibly can on Americans.”

He said everything is on the table, including cutting off Ontario’s electricity and critical minerals supplies to the United States.

The premier’s comments caught Trump’s attention.

“Lots of ‘bluster’ from Doug Ford, who is the Premier of the Canadian Province of Ontario, but who is better known as the less charismatic, intelligent, and overall unimpressive brother of the late, great Rob Ford,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.

In response, Ford said: “the guy’s a loser.”

Ford weighed in on the trade war after remaining quiet for several days while talks between the two countries intensified, until breaking off just before new tariffs took effect on Saturday.

Carney suspended the trade talks on Friday night, accusing the Trump administration of introducing unacceptable measures including restrictions on Canada’s ability to sign deals with other countries and last-minute demands to restrict Canada’s language and culture protections.

Ford applauded Carney’s decision to walk away from the deal and called for the country’s premiers to stand united.

Ottawa plans to match U.S. tariffs dollar-for-dollar after Labour Day, targeting sectors including steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment and electronics.

Ford said he is considering another surcharge on electricity Ontario sends to 1.5 million customers in Michigan, New York and Minnesota.

When Trump went ahead with his original tariffs against Canada last year, Ford retaliated by implementing a 25 per cent surcharge on electricity to those states. The Trump administration was livid and threatened increased tariffs. But the gambit spurred renewed trade talks and Ontario’s surcharge only lasted a day.

Ford also mused about cutting off electricity altogether to those states.

Trump, meanwhile, launched his own energy threat on Monday.

“Remember, much of the electricity, oil and gas that Canada gets is transported through the U.S.A.,” he wrote. “Someone should get these clowns to ‘fall in line’ or the consequences for Canada will be far WORSE!”

Ford also pulled American booze off the shelves of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario in March 2025 in retaliation to Trumps’ first volley of tariffs.

That move effectively banned bourbon, California wines and a host of other U.S. liquor, wine and ready-to-drink beverages across the province.

Ford has said he would drop the booze ban once Trump drops all tariffs he has imposed on Canada.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 24, 2026.