The electricity tariff will be paid by utility providers in the three impacted states of New York, Michigan, and Minnesota
Ontario Premier Doug Ford has followed through on his pledge to impose a 25 percent tariff on electricity exported to the United States in response to the tariffs enacted on Canadian products by President Donald Trump.
The export tax on the energy Ontario sends to New York, Michigan, and Minnesota comes into force today, bumping up the cost of electricity for 1.5 million households and businesses in those states, Doug Ford said during a March 10 press conference in Toronto.
The electricity tariff will be paid by utility providers in the three states, netting the province an estimated $300,000 to $400,000 per day, Ford said, noting that the tariff will add roughly $100 per month to the Americans’ bills.
“I feel terrible for the American people, because it’s not the American people who started this trade war,” Ford said.
Ontario’s electricity tariff comes at a time of economic uncertainty for Canada in the face of the U.S. president’s ever-changing tariffs.
Trump slapped 25 percent tariffs on items imported from Canada on March 4 with a lower rate of 10 percent on Canadian energy products. He announced the following day, March 5, the auto sector would receive a reprieve until April 2.
Then, on March 6, Trump signed another executive order to allow goods covered by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) to be exempt from the 25 percent tariffs until April 2. That impacts roughly 38 percent of the goods the U.S. imports from Canada.
Canada has responded by placing $30 billion worth of tariffs on American goods last week, while Ontario has pulled all American alcohol from its provincially run liquor stores and put an end to procurement opportunities for U.S. companies.
Ford said he is hopeful federal and provincial responses to U.S. tariffs will have a large enough impact to make Trump reconsider current and future tariffs on Canada.
Ford said the province can increase or decrease the 25 percent surcharge, valued at $10 per megawatt-hour, as needed in reaction to measures implemented by the Trump administration.
