Retaliate against Trump’s tariffs? Why Ford wants Carney to ‘hit back’

Now is not the time to “roll over,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford is telling Prime Minister Mark Carney as Canada prepares to deal with U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest trade war escalation.

And he’s not the only one, even as others are split on whether to retaliate.

“Canada shouldn’t settle for anything less than the right deal. Now is not the time to roll over. We need to stand our ground,” Ford said in a statement released on social media on Thursday, just hours after Trump increased the tariffs on Canadian goods from 25 per cent to 35 per cent.

Ford called for further retaliation.

“The federal government needs to hit back with a 50 per cent tariff on U.S. steel and aluminum,” he said.

“Canada has what the United States needs: oil and gas, critical minerals, steel and aluminum, electricity, potash and uranium. We’re America’s number one customer and keep millions of Americans working,” the Ontario premier said, urging Carney to “maximize our leverage and stand strong.”

Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston indicated that his province is considering retaliatory measures of its own.

“Our government will continue its part to support our province and the rest of Canada. Make no mistake: at the provincial level, we will not hesitate to implement retaliatory measures again if they are needed,” Houston said in a statement.

Canada’s largest private sector union echoed Ford’s call for action.

“I agree with Premier Ford that we have to be prepared to use any and all leverage to win as much as we can in these circumstances. And I believe Canada has more strength and more leverage than any other nation in dealing with the United States,” Lana Payne, president of Unifor, told Global News.

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“The president will continue to demand more and more and so we have to draw a line in the sand and push back hard but also make sure that we’re protecting these workers and these industries.”

Payne said retaliation could come in many forms.

“It can be more retaliation in terms of tariffs on the U.S. It could mean export controls. It can mean that we stockpile critical minerals. It could mean any number of things. We just have to understand that we have a lot of leverage,” she said.

“We have to be willing to use it. We have put it all on the table and be strategic about what it is that we do here.”

Business groups, however, are urging caution.

Dan Kelly, president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, said that while he acknowledges there may be strong public support for further retaliatory tariffs, it could further raise trade uncertainty.

“At this stage, though, it is difficult to say whether retaliation from Canada would cause this to escalate and worsen or potentially get better. I urge the government to use caution,” Kelly said.

“We saw that movie with China and the U.S., where tariffs went up over a hundred per cent, and that’s certainly not a good thing for the Canadian economy. I think we have to be smart about this, be patient, and play the long game.”

Business groups say any retaliatory measures should be applied very selectively and temporarily.

“Any retaliatory tariffs should be surgical, targeted and temporary so that they do as little harm to Canadian businesses as possible — and only enacted in unison with the larger pursuit of diversifying trade and getting big projects built,” said Matthew Holmes, executive vice-president at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.

Some experts say it is unlikely that Carney will hit back against Trump’s latest escalation.

“Trump cited retaliatory tariffs as a justification for upping the ante, so it’s doubtful that Canada will respond by raising the rates it has been applying to U.S. imports,” said Clay Jarvis, financial expert at NerdWallet Canada.

“If that’s the case, Canadian consumers shouldn’t see prices on American goods spike. But it’s not as if the status quo has been all that affordable. Canadians have been paying more for food, cars, clothes and appliances for months.”

A Royal Bank of Canada report on Friday said that while the increased 35 per cent tariffs would be “impactful,” they were not the worst-case scenario for Canada.

“Tariffs on Canadian goods announced by the U.S. on July 31 do not significantly alter Canada’s economic outlook,” the report by RBC economists Nathan Janzen and Claire Fan said.

This is because the increased tariffs maintain the exemption for goods traded in compliance with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico free trade agreement (CUSMA).

Kelly urged Carney not to “rush into a deal” since the exemption on CUSMA-compliant goods from tariffs gives Canada a bit of a cushion.

“A bad deal is a lot worse than no deal at all,” he said.