Ontario Suspends Surcharge On Energy to America

On Tuesday, the Canadian province of Ontario backed away from its threat to impose a surcharge on electricity to three American states. Ontario had announced a 25 percent surcharge on electricity exports to Michigan, New York, and Minnesota.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick issued a joint statement, indicating that they had a “productive conversation” and indicating that they will meet Thursday in Washington to discuss issues further. 

The suspension of the surcharge was confirmed by President Donald Trump in comments to reporters. 

“As you know, there’s a very strong man in Canada who said he was going to charge a surcharge or a tariff on electricity coming into our country,” the president stated, continuing, “He has called, and he said he’s not going to do that.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Trump had threatened to increase tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium to 50 percent in response to Ford’s energy surcharge. Trump has since indicated that he will back away from the decision in response to Ford’s caving on the electricity surcharge. 

“We have both agreed, let cooler heads prevail,” Ford told reporters on his agreement with Lutnick.