Ontario Premier Doug Ford wrote on X that he and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick discussed the tit-for-tat tariff threats between him and President Donald Trump over the past 24 hours.
According to a joint statement, Lutnick agreed to meet with Ford in Washington, D.C. on Thursday with a U.S. trade representative to discuss a renewed United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, before an April 2 tariff on Canada begins.
The agreement was to be the "new NAFTA" that Trump negotiated and then signed in 2020.
ALSO READ: 'Chaos': Small biz owner hit by Trump’s last tariff reveals key flaw that hurts companies
“I mean, who can blame them if they made these great deals with the United States, took advantage of the United States on manufacturing?” Trump said last month in a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron. “On just about anything, every aspect you can imagine, they took advantage.”
“I look at some of these agreements, I’d read them at night, and I’d say, ‘Who would ever sign a thing like this?’ So the tariffs will go forward, yes, and we’re gonna make up a lot of territory. All we want is reciprocal. We want reciprocity," Trump added.
"In response, Ontario agreed to suspend its 25 percent surcharge on exports of electricity to Michigan, New York and Minnesota," said Ford.
After Trump imposed the first tariffs on Canada, that nation hit the U.S. with its own levies. Ford, the leader of the most populated province, then issued an energy surcharge on the states that use Canadian energy: Minnesota, Michigan, and New York.
Trump then responded by doubling the tax on aluminum and steel and promising a national emergency to deal with the electricity levy. He also questioned why the U.S. was buying electricity from another country.
Ford went on MSNBC and threatened to act further.