» Trump throws tariff bomb into Canada’s federal election

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While U.S. President Donald Trump calls April 2 “Liberation Day,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford says it should be called “Termination Day” for all the American jobs that will be lost. Next Wednesday — April 2 — is the day that Donald Trump says the United States will impose a 25% tariff on all foreign made automobiles, including those from Canada and Mexico.

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“What we’re going to be doing is a 25% tariff on all cars that are not made in the United States,” Trump said from the Oval Office on Wednesday afternoon.

“We’re signing an executive order today that’s going to lead to tremendous growth in the automobile industry.”

That executive order says that there will be a 25% tariff on foreign made autos, but a briefing note issued with the order said that at least at first, there would not be a full 25% tariff on autos produced under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement or on parts, but that could change.

“Importers of automobiles under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement will be given the opportunity to certify their U.S. content and systems will be implemented such that the 25% tariff will only apply to the value of their non-U.S. content,” the note reads.

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That will lessen the blow a bit but will still see a push for automakers and parts makers to move production south to the United States. Trump was proudly boasting of new investments by Honda and Toyota that he said would not have happened if not for the threat of tariffs.

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Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he was taken by surprise at the announcement, which he said goes against the agreement he came to in Washington with Trump’s Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Ford said when they met in Washinton two weeks ago, they agreed there would be “no surprises” as they worked towards April 2, and eventually a new deal.

Clearly, Trump needed a distraction from the fact that several of his cabinet members were on a Signal group chat discussing their military strike against the Houthis in Yemen when someone included a journalist. With Washington fixated on that scandal, it looks like Trump moved up his date for talking auto tariffs.

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Ford said it is American workers who will pay the price as auto plants in the highly integrated North American system grind to a halt.

“President Trump’s calling it Liberation Day. I call it Termination Day for American workers. I know President Trump likes telling people you’re fired. I didn’t think you meant auto workers in the U.S. when he said that,” Ford said.

In the midst of a federal election, Liberal Leader Mark Carney put on his Prime Minister’s hat to respond to the announcement, saying at a hastily arranged news conference late Wednesday that he had already spoken with Ford.

“We will have more discussions in terms of in terms of our overall approach, but together, we are stronger,” Carney said.

Carney was scheduled to take his election campaign to Quebec tomorrow after events in Windsor, London and Kitchener, along Ontario auto corridor. Instead, he is headed back to Ottawa to convene a meeting of the cabinet committee on Canada-U.S. relations.

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Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre responded to Trump’s tariffs ahead of a rally in Quebec City saying that he unequivocally condemns the President’s “unjustified and unprovoked” actions.

“These tariffs will damage his workers and his economy just as they will damage ours. We must retaliate and target goods and services that we don’t need, can buy elsewhere or make ourselves to maximize the impact on the Americans while minimizing the impact on ourselves,” Poilievre said.

He said that he supports ensuring employment insurance is available for workers who lose their jobs, promoted job sharing to keep people employed and said Canada needs to change our economy going forward so we aren’t so reliant on the Americans.

While Poilievre had the best response of the Canadian federal leaders for dealing with the threat posed by  Trump, the actions from the White House Wednesday are a gift to Mark Carney and the Liberals.

Trump has already said he’d prefer dealing with a Liberal. With this tariff announcement, he may have sealed the deal for Carney.

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