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Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he’s been “jammed meeting everyone” in Washington, D.C., as he tries to drum up support for his Fortress North America vision, an idea he has been pushing in some form since U.S. President Donald Trump was first elected.
The premier headed down to the United States Capitol on Monday and Tuesday for a series of meetings, although he hasn’t met with anyone from the Trump administration.
Ford’s social media showed meetings with the American Automotive Policy Council, the American Farm Bureau Federation and Autos Drive America, none of which were open to the media.
“We have been jammed meeting everyone down here, they rolled out the red carpet for us, they treated us so well,” Ford told reporters on Tuesday morning. “Our message to everyone: we love Americans.”
He was speaking after launching his Fortress North America plan — an updated version of Fortress Am-Can — which he has tried repeatedly to convince Trump, his commerce secretary Howard Lutnik and various governors to adopt.
The plan pushes further integration of critical minerals, energy and trade at a time when Trump has gone in the other direction, levying tariffs on Canadian exports.
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“Fortress North America is built on a simple truth: economic security is national security,” the plan reads. “A renewed trade agreement will deliver real results for workers and families.”
Ford’s trip comes days after Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc visited Washington for talks with Trump’s trade representative Jamieson Greer to renew the current Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on free trade (CUSMA).
LeBlanc spoke to reporters in Washington after what he called a “positive” meeting with Greer, alongside Canada’s chief U.S. trade negotiator Janice Charette, where the minister said they presented “a number of specific proposals” that respond to “some longstanding issues that the United States has raised with us.”
The federal talks are part of a push to renew CUSMA, which sets free trade terms on a vast array of goods between Canada, the United States and Mexico.
The review sets up a three-way choice for each country to make.
They can renew the deal for another 16 years, withdraw from it or signal both non-renewal and non-withdrawal, which would trigger an annual review process that could keep negotiations going for up to a decade.
Ford, who is not directly involved in the talks, said he was hoping to see a quick resolution to the talks that favours more free trade.
Speaking in Washington on Tuesday, Ford said he hadn’t spoken to Lutnik for some time and accepted that trade is now in the hands of Ottawa.
“I had a role to play when I was chair of the (Council of) the Federation,” he said, referring to a group made up of the country’s premiers.
“Now, I’m playing the role of the largest province, largest population, largest economy in Canada. I just want to make sure we move forward.”
— with files from Global News’ Ariel Rabinovitch, Uday Rana & Sean Boynton
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