The premier of Canada's most populous province is retaliating against President Donald Trump's harsh new tariffs against his country with a blanket ban on U.S. companies from receiving provincial contracts.
On Monday Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario, announced the new policy change on X, making clear that it would remain in effect as long as Trump's tariffs do.
"Every year, the Ontario government and its agencies spend $30 billion on procurement, alongside our $200 billion plan to build Ontario," wrote Ford, who leads the right-leaning Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario. "U.S.-based businesses will now lose out on tens of billions of dollars in new revenues. They only have President Trump to blame."
But Ford took it one step further, and singled out pro-Trump tech billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX, which provides satellite internet services for the Ontario government. "We’ll be ripping up the province’s contract with Starlink," said Ford. "Ontario won’t do business with people hellbent on destroying our economy."
"Canada didn't start this fight with the U.S., but you better believe we're ready to win it," Ford concluded.
Trump's tariffs on Canada, which took effect this weekend along with tariffs on Mexico and China, are ostensibly in retaliation for fentanyl seizures and migrant entrances, although only a tiny fraction of either of those things in the U.S. occur at the Canadian border.
Ford has grown increasingly outspoken against Trump's threats in recent months. He has punched back over Trump's repeated suggestion that Canada should become a U.S. state if they want to avoid tariffs, at one point replying that Canada should buy Alaska instead. He has also threatened to block the U.S. import of Canadian oil and gas from his province; Canada is the largest foreign source of energy for the United States, although the majority comes from the prairie provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, rather than Ontario.