The trade war between the US and Canada erupted into an extraordinary exchange of insults and threats between President Donald Trump and Doug Ford, the leader of Ontario.
The White House put tariffs of 50% on some Canadian goods Saturday after trade talks collapsed. That prompted Prime Minister Mark Carney to announce hours later that Canada will impose counter-tariffs.
He was backed strongly by Ford, whose province is on the front line of Trump's tariffs as Canada's auto and steel manufacturing heartland. On Saturday, the premier likened Trump to a schoolyard bully who'd steal your lunch money and your hat, and said Canada should be ready to use electricity and critical minerals that the US needs as leverage.
Then, on Monday, Trump threatened on social media to double tariffs on Canadian autos to 50% to punish Carney's decision to retaliate. Ford was in the middle of a radio interview, and the host read out the president's entire post.
"He can kiss my a-- as far as I'm concerned," the Ontario premier said immediately.
The war of words only spiraled from there.
Trump posted on Truth Social calling Ford "the less charismatic, intelligent, and overall unimpressive brother of the late, great, Rob Ford." That was a reference to Doug Ford's younger sibling, who made global headlines in 2013 when, as mayor of Toronto, a video emerged of him smoking crack cocaine. He died of cancer in 2016.
The US president also called Ford the "Flunky" of "Governor" Carney, a jibe he returns to when relations sour, alongside saying Canada should be the 51st US state.
"Remember, much of the Electricity, Oil, and Gas that Canada gets is transported through the U.S.A.," Trump added. "Someone should get these clowns to 'fall in line' or, the consequences for Canada will be far WORSE!"
That could be read as a veiled threat against Enbridge Inc. pipelines that carry western Canadian crude through the Midwestern US, feeding refineries there before re-entering Canada again in Ontario.
Ford was read some of Trump's comments at a press conference on a construction site Monday. He called Trump a "dictator" and repeated his previous insult before launching into a fresh tirade, as hard-hatted workers occasionally chuckled behind him.
"I'm not going to take any advice off a guy that's the king of bankruptcies," Ford said. "Your own people, President Trump, don't even like you. And they're going to speak loud and clear when it comes to the midterms."
When asked again about Trump's social media attacks, Ford said, "I'm not going to take the bait," before deciding to take the bait. "This guy's a loser," he said, adding: "I have more courage, more brains in my baby toe than he has in his whole body."
It's a reprise of a role Ford played a year ago as the Canadian who most gets under Trump's skin. Ford briefly imposed a surcharge on the electricity Ontario exports to New York, Michigan and Minnesota, prompting Trump to threaten to increase tariffs on Canadian steel to 50%. Ford quickly backed down.
Three months later, Trump put global steel tariffs at 50% anyway.
Then, last October, Ford's government ran TV commercials in the US using an address of former President Ronald Reagan speaking out against tariffs. That led Trump to terminate trade talks with Canada. Negotiations over one of the world's biggest trading relationships went quiet for months, but Ford defended it as the "best ad that's ever been run."
In some ways, Ford and Trump are alike - both are teetotalers and populist conservative politicians with backgrounds in business. Both have even had recent controversies over their official aircraft.
In response to the trade war, Ford has emulated Trump's famous red 'Make America Great Again' baseball caps. The Ontario premier has donned a navy blue version emblazoned with 'Canada Is Not For Sale.'
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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