Trump Tariffs and Canada: U.S. tariffs on steel, aluminum in effect; Canada’s retaliatory levies start Thursday; Carney to become PM Friday

9:00 p.m. From tallboys to houses, latest aluminum and steel tariffs driving up costs

More pain is on tap for craft breweries, homebuilders and manufacturers as U.S. tariffs on imported aluminum — and the counter-levies Canada is lobbing back — drive up costs.

Blair Berdusco, chair of the Canadian Craft Brewers Association, said it amounts to a double hit. Canadian aluminum being shipped to the United States to make cans is subject to a new 25 per cent tariff, and there’s another ding when the finished cans cross back over the 49th parallel.

She said the biggest impact is being felt for the 473-millilitre tallboy cans that craft breweries most often use, since no one makes them in Canada. China makes cans, but it’s being hit by the same aluminum tariffs.

Read the full story from the Canadian Press

8:20 p.m. Trump’s interest in absorbing Canada not on the agenda at G7 meeting, says Rubio

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters Wednesday that Trump believes Canada as an American state makes sense “from an economic standpoint.”

“He says if they became the 51st state, we wouldn’t have to worry about the border and fentanyl coming across because now we would be able to manage that,” said Rubio. “He’s made an argument that it’s their interest to do so. Obviously the Canadians don’t agree, apparently.”

However, Rubio said none of that is on the agenda at this week’s G7 foreign ministers’ meeting in Charlevoix, Que.

“That’s not what we’re going to discuss at the G7,” he said. ”They are the host nation, and I — I mean, we have a lot of other things we work on together. We defend North America through Norad and the airspace of our continent together, so — not to mention the issues of Ukraine and other commonalities. So we’re going to be focused in the G7 on all of those things. That’s what the meeting is about. It is not a meeting about how we’re going to take over Canada.”

Read an overview of today’s events from Ottawa Bureau Chief Tonda MacCharles

Martin Regg Cohn: How Doug Ford beat Donald Trump at his own game

Did Doug Ford just get played?

No, he’s just playing Donald Trump’s game — up and down and round and round.

The game is being played on cable TV with headline-grabbing stunts, not serious policy. It’s about fighting fire with fire, folly with folly, tariff shocks with electrical shocks.

Trump with Ford.

Get the full take from Star columnist Martin Regg Cohn

5:45 p.m. Carney to be sworn in as PM on Friday (updated)

Mark Carney, who won a landslide victory Sunday in the Liberal leadership race, will officially become prime minister after he and his cabinet are sworn in at the Governor General’s residence at 11 a.m., according to a release from Rideau Hall.

The prime minister-designate is expected to swear in a smaller cabinet than Justin Trudeau’s current 36-member team. Seven cabinet ministers have said they won’t seek reelection, including in relatively high-profile posts like justice, heritage and trade.

Read the full story from Ryan Tumilty and Mark Ramzy

5:39 p.m. Algoma Steel still assessing impact of tariffs a day after layoffs (updated)

Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.-based Algoma Steel announced early Wednesday evening that it cut its fourth quarter loss to $66.5 million, down from $84.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2023.

The company said the full financial impact from tariffs is still impossible to predict.

“The company is currently assessing the impact of these tariffs and tariff threats. The tariffs are expected to have a material and adverse impact on the Company’s financial position, results of operations and liquidity; however, an estimate of the financial impact cannot be made at this time.”

— Josh Rubin

5:05 p.m. Head of the Canadian Steel Producers Association blasts tariffs

“The announcement by President Trump of a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian steel entering the United States has deeply damaged our mutually beneficial trading relationship,” said CSPA president Catherine Cobden. “These tariffs will have devastating repercussions on both sides of the border for workers and communities that rely on a strong North American steel industry.” 

Cobden also urged Canadian governments at all levels to buy local.

“We are asking all municipal, provincial and federal governments to step up and ensure they are prioritizing Canadian steel in all their publicly funded infrastructure projects. This would be a strong and timely show of support for Canada’s steel industry, and the workers and communities that depend on it.”

— Josh Rubin

4:19 p.m. Steel and aluminum are a fundamental part of American life

A stainless steel refrigerator holds aluminum soda cans. A stainless steel drum tumbles inside an aluminum washing machine. They’re the metals used in cars and airplanes, phones and frying pans, skyscrapers and zippers.

That’s why President Donald Trump’s 25 per cent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports could have widespread impact on manufacturers and consumers.

Here are some of the industries and products that rely on aluminum and steel, as reported by the Associated Press.

3:35 p.m. More details on Ford and Carney’s  morning meeting

Call it the Etobicoke entente.

Ford hosted the successor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday morning at Wally’s Grill on Rexdale Boulevard in Etobicoke.

“Thanks for the breakfast meeting, Premier @fordnation — and for standing up for Ontario,” Carney enthused on social media.

“We’ve got a big fight ahead of us, and we’ll be working together every step of the way. We’re strongest when we’re united,” said the former Bank of Canada and Bank of England governor.

Read more from Robert Benzie and Rob Ferguson

3:06 p.m. Trump vows to take back ‘stolen’ wealth

“The United States of America is going to take back a lot of what was stolen from it by other countries and, frankly, by incompetent U.S. leadership,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday. “We’re going to take back our wealth, and we’re going to take back a lot of the companies that left.”

Meanwhile, Democratic lawmakers say Trump’s tariffs are about generating revenues to help cover the cost of his planned income tax cuts for the wealthy.

“Donald Trump knows his policies could wreck the economy, but he’s doing it anyway,” said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York. “Why are they doing all these crazy things that Americans don’t like? One reason, and one reason alone: tax breaks for billionaires, the north star of the Republican party’s goals.”

In many ways, the U.S. president is addressing what he perceives as unfinished business from his first term. Trump meaningfully increased tariffs, but the revenues collected by the federal government were too small to significantly increase overall inflationary pressures.

Outside forecasts by the Yale University Budget Lab, Tax Policy Center and others suggest that U.S. families would have the costs of the taxes passed onto them in the form of higher prices.

Read the full story from the Associated Press

2:54 p.m. Singh urges unity — but also takes aim at Carney

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh issued a call for unity and resistance in response to Trump’s tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum, while attacking prime minister-designate Mark Carney in the same breath in a statement Wednesday afternoon.

“Thousands of Canadian jobs are at stake and workers are worried about whether they’ll be able to keep putting food on the table,” he said. “Trump’s an economic arsonist, and in his attempt to burn down our house, he’s doing the same to the American economy.”

Repeating his call to “build” and protect workers, he said, “I’m disappointed that Mark Carney has said not one word on getting support to workers or fixing EI.”

“Not one word about building the jobs we need here at home by requiring federal projects to use 100 per cent Canadian steel,” he said. “Cuts for workers and tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy will not help workers.”

Earlier Wednesday, Carney said all proceeds from counter-tariffs should be going back to support workers in affected industries, including steel workers.

— Mark Ramzy

1:32 p.m. Trump pledges to tariff European cars

Trump says he “absolutely” will tariff European cars, and complains as well about access for American farm products.

Trump said after he responded to Ontario’s charge on electricity, “they withdrew their little threat.” He claims Canada is “absolutely one of the worst” when it comes to charging American farmers tariffs on dairy.

1:02 p.m. Trump critical of EU

Trump, seated next to the Irish leader, said Ireland and the European Union “took our pharmaceutical companies” and other companies, in Ireland’s case using taxation policies. Trump asserted that his tariff plan is already working, and that in the case of some countries, tariffs are “a little bit beyond reciprocal.” He said a “lot” of the stock market drops “was because of a really bad four years that we had” under Biden.

Trump says he will respond to European counter-tariffs, adding the “EU was set up in order to take advantage of the United States, including Ireland.”

He says he would have threatened the pharmaceutical companies from the outset with up to 200 per cent tariffs on drugs they wanted to sell back into the U.S., saying they never would have left.

Trump claims, “There’s no inconsistency” in how he has imposed tariffs. “I have the right to adjust.”

He said he delayed the initial tariffs at the request of the Big Three automakers for four weeks only. “It’s called flexibility, not inconsistency ... but there will be very little flexibility once we start on April 2.”

12:56 p.m. Trump takes credit for Ford pause

Speaking in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump takes credit for Ontario dropping its 25 per cent surcharge on electricity exports. But Premier Doug Ford at Queen’s Park said it remains a tool in their toolbox that can be used if the trade war continues. And Ford notes it was Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick who called him and not the other way around.

11:38 a.m. TSX up slightly, U.S. markets mixed as more tariffs take effect, BoC cuts rate

Canada’s main stock index ticked higher while U.S. markets were mixed in late-morning trading Wednesday, after 25 per cent tariffs on U.S. imports of steel and aluminum officially kicked in and the Bank of Canada cut its key lending rate by a quarter-point to 2.75 per cent.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 15.10 points at 24,263.30.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 337.86 points at 41,095.62. The S&P 500 index was down 6.10 points at 5,565.97, while the Nasdaq composite was up 78.49 points at 17,514.58.

The Canadian dollar traded for 69.44 cents US compared with 69.20 cents US on Tuesday.

Read more from the Canadian Press

10:55 a.m. Canadian tariffs start at 12:01 tomorrow

Canada’s latest counter-tariffs will hit American Imports as of 12:01 a.m., March 13. On top of targeting U.S. steel and aluminum, it will hit tools, computers and servers, display monitors, water heaters, sport equipment, and cast-iron products, according to an official.

10:50 a.m. Carney meeting with steelworkers (updated) 

Prime minister-designate Mark Carney is in Hamilton visiting steel manufacturer ArcelorMittal Dofasco and meeting with workers there.

In brief remarks to media, Carney said it’s a “difficult day for the industry because of these unjustified tariffs.”

On the reciprocal tariffs announced by the Canadian government Wednesday morning, he said, “We don’t want to do this because we believe in open borders and free and fair trade, but we’re doing this in response.”

He said all tariff proceeds will go towards affected industries and workers, and the federal government will “double down” on its partnerships with Canadian industries.

“With respect to the United States and the relationship there, we understand, I understand, I respect President Trump’s concern for American workers and American families,” he said. “We respect his concern about fentanyl. It’s an issue for us here in Canada as well, and that’s why the Canadian government moved very quickly with a comprehensive response that has had a huge, huge impact in terms of controlling that issue and getting on top of that issue much better.”

“We are ready to sit down with the Americans, with the U.S. government,” he added. “I’m ready to sit down with President Trump at the appropriate time, under a position where there’s respect for Canadian sovereignty and we’re working for a common approach, a much more comprehensive approach for trade.”

10:42 a.m. Joly says tariff threat an existential battle

Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said it’s not only a threat to Canadian jobs, Canada is in an existential battle. “It’s ultimately the future of our country that’s in doubt.”

Joly said when it comes to energy exports from Canada and whether Ottawa would put on tariffs, as Ford did Tuesday, that “everything is on the table” but also adds “we need to keep Canadians united.”

Champagne says, “I don’t think it would be smart as a nation to start putting it off the table.”

Joly said Canada coordinated with the EU and Mexico on its response.

The official list of today’s measures has not yet been released. A staffer tells the Star’s Tonda MacCharles it will be published today.

10:19 a.m. Meeting in Washington to focus on April 2 reciprocal tariffs, LeBlanc says

“It’s not about renegotiating the USMCA,” says Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc, contradicting what Ford said yesterday and today. The premier said that will be discussed.

LeBlanc says they will talk about the big looming deadline for Trump’s reciprocal tariffs due on April 2, and Canada’s intention to fully respond if the president doesn’t drop tariffs. LeBlanc says if the U.S. wants to have the CUSMA review earlier, “we will be ready.”

“But for the moment it’s difficult to get there” because day after day there are all these other tariffs, says LeBlanc.

LeBlanc said “obviously outrageous comments” by the U.S. president on annexation are “not constructive” to the conversation he wants to have tomorrow, but his focus is not on “exaggerated rhetoric.”

LeBlanc said it would be irresponsible not to take up the conversation on the sectoral tariffs, and Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said “we need to find off-ramps.”

Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne adds that the government will equally defend the automotive sector against Trump’s threat Tuesday to “shut down” carmaking in Canada. He said same goes for other sectors like aerospace manufacturing or lumber.

10:19 a.m. Ford, Carney agree on need to stand firm on Trump threats

On social media, Premier Doug Ford said, “this morning, I met with Mark Carney, Canada’s incoming prime minister for a positive and productive discussion. We agreed on the need to stand firm and strong in the face of President Trump’s threats, including additional retaliatory tariffs in response to U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum, which will raise costs for American businesses and families. Team Canada has risen to the challenge and proven that no one should ever underestimate the strength and resilience of the Canadian people. Together, we will get through this more united than ever before.

Canada won’t relent until the threat of tariffs is gone for good. I look forward to sitting down with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and members of the Trump administration’s economic team tomorrow. Facing the cost of Ontario’s 25 per cent surcharge on electricity exports, Secretary Lutnick extended an olive branch to start a conversation about the future of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Over the coming weeks and months, I’m going to work with Secretary Lutnick, our federal partners and every premier in good faith toward a free trade deal that’s fair for both countries.”

10:17 a.m. LeBlanc denies Canada has leadership vacuum

Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc denies that Canada has a leadership vacuum at the moment and that Canada has responded strongly with a proportionate response. Joly says what matters is Canadian unity. “What you’re seeing today is leadership on the part of the federal government, and we’ll continue to work with premiers that are showing leadership as well.”

LeBlanc says on the agenda for his and Ford’s meeting tomorrow in Washington is the need to lower the temperature and the immediate steel and aluminum tariffs, not the renegotiation of CUSMA, the continental free trade pact, saying it’s up for review in 2026.

10:11 a.m. One job in Canada’s aluminum industry supports 13 American jobs

Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne says he learned in a meeting with aluminum sector leaders yesterday that one job in Canada’s aluminum industry supports 13 American jobs.

10:03 a.m. Joly says tariff war a day to day fight

Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly says this will be “day to day fight” as the tariff war continues. Canada addressed all of Trump’s border concerns, and now she says, “the latest excuse is national security.”

“The excuse for those tariffs shifts every day,” Joly says. “The only constant in this unjustified and unjustifiable trade war seems to be President Trump’s talks of annexing our country through economic coercion.”

Joly speaks directly to camera to speak to Americans, and repeats Canada’s — and Premier Doug Ford’s — often repeated line about how it is Trump, not Canada, that is driving up the cost of their groceries, and gas, and “putting your jobs at risk.” And she urges Americans to lobby their elected representatives to have the tariffs lifted.

Joly is en route to Charlevoix where the G7 foreign ministers are meeting tonight and tomorrow, and says that Trump’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio will be there (he skipped the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in South Africa) and that she will raise the tariff war with him and all their counterparts in those meetings.

9:57 a.m. Canada’s tariffs to take effect Thursday

As we reported earlier, Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc announced the new counter-measures to what he calls “unjustified” U.S. tariffs, and thanks the premiers for “sticking up for” their provinces and the whole country.

LeBlanc says Trump’s tariffs are introducing “disruption and disorder into an incredibly successful trading partnership.”

The new reciprocal Canadian counter-tariffs will take effect tomorrow, March 13, and include tariffs against $12.6 billion worth of steel and $3 billion worth of aluminum imports from the U.S. and an additional $14.2 billion worth of other imports.

LeBlanc says since the U.S. expanded its tariffs to derivative steel and aluminum which hadn’t previously been announced, Canada may impose more tariffs beyond this once they consult on it.

LeBlanc says the list of additional products affected by counter-tariffs includes “computers, sports equipment, and cast iron products as examples.”

9:34 a.m. Canada to announce retaliatory tariffs 

The Canadian government will announce an additional set of tariffs on $29.8 billion Cdn of American steel and aluminum products, the Star has learned.

The counter-tariffs to be announced today come on top of the previously announced measures against $30 billion worth of American imports, a senior official said.

9:50 a.m. Bank of Canada cuts key interest rate to 2.75% as recession fears loom amid trade war

The Bank of Canada cut its key interest rate for the seventh consecutive time on Wednesday as the trade war threatens to plunge the economy into a recession.

The bank reduced the policy rate by 25 basis points, bringing it to 2.75 per cent from three per cent — a move that was widely expected by economists.

“In recent months, the pervasive uncertainty created by continuously changing U.S. tariff threats has shaken business and consumer confidence,” Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem wrote in a statement. “This is restraining household spending intentions and businesses’ plans to hire and invest.”

Read more from the Star’s Ana Pereira

8:44 a.m. Canadian officials to speak about tariff response

Canadian officials will talk about the federal response to the steel and aluminum tariffs this morning. Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly, and Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne will speak to reporters at 9:45.

8:41 a.m. Americans have ‘no interest’ in seeing Canada join U.S., poll finds

Trump escalated his annexation threat against Canada Tuesday as he talked about the steel and aluminum tariffs, saying he could erase the “artificial line” between the two countries.

Today the Angus Reid Institute put out an interesting poll on support for annexation.

It says that 60 per cent of Americans — and 44 per cent of Trump voters — have “no interest” in seeing Canada join the U.S.

The data shows 32 per cent of Americans would be interested if Canadians supported the idea, with the number rising to 42 per cent among Trump voters. Six per cent agreed with the statement that the U.S. should annex Canada using political and economic pressure, and two per cent believe the U.S. should annex Canada using military force.

The poll also canvassed Canadian opinion.

Overall, opposition to annexation in Canada remains high, at 90 per cent.

But more and more Canadians — 54 per cent up from 32 per cent in January — now think Trump is serious about his threats, whereas only 34 per cent of Americans take him seriously.

Angus Reid asked, based on Canadian political preferences, how respondents would vote if there were a referendum on joining the U.S.

One in five, 21 per cent of Conservatives, said they’d vote to join the U.S. That compares to low numbers among other party supporters: 2 per cent of Liberals, 3 per cent of NDP, 1 per cent of Bloc Québécois say they’d vote to join the U.S.

However, the poll also asked how that support would change among Conservative supporters if the federal Liberals won a majority in the next election, and support to join the U.S. rose to 33 per cent.

The online poll surveyed 2,005 American respondents, and an equal number of Canadians.

8:11 a.m. Unifor president slams Trump tariffs

Unifor president Lana Payne in a statement Wednesday morning said with the tariffs, “Trump is knowingly inflicting damage to the North American manufacturing sector with these inflationary tariffs that will injure workers, eliminate jobs, and hurt consumers.”

As for Trump’s threat to “shut down” automaking in Canada, Payne shot back: “America does not have a monopoly on auto production. Canada has been manufacturing vehicles for over a century, and we are the largest Detroit Three purchasing market outside of the U.S.”

“These are our jobs, and we will defend them with everything we have. You sell here, you must also build here.”

8 a.m. EU greenlights retaliatory tariffs in response to Trump

After Trump’s 25 per cent steel and aluminum tariffs took effect at midnight on Canada and the world, the European Commission gave the greenlight to a retaliatory package of counter-tariffs on €26B (about $40B) worth of American goods. They come into force in April.

EC president Ursula von der Leyen said “Tariffs are taxes. They are bad for business, and even worse for consumers.”

7:20 a.m. Economists expect Trump tariff chaos will spark interest rate cut Wednesday by Bank of Canada

The Bank of Canada is poised to cut its key interest rate for the seventh consecutive time on Wednesday as the tariff war with U.S. President Donald Trump threatens to plunge Canada into recession.

The central bank is expected to reduce the policy rate by 25 basis points, according to a Bloomberg survey of economists, reducing it to 2.75 per cent from three per cent.

Since its rate announcement in January, bank governor Tiff Macklem warned that tariff uncertainty is already hurting the economy and that “trade friction with the United States is a new reality.”

Read more from the Star’s Ana Pereira

4 a.m. Canadian pride surges in face of Trump’s tariff, sovereignty threats: Leger poll

OTTAWA—A new poll suggests Canadians’ sense of national pride has surged in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs and threats against the country’s sovereignty.

The poll, conducted by Leger Marketing for the Association for Canadian Studies, says that the number of people saying they’re proud to be Canadian has jumped from 80 per cent in November 2024 to 86 per cent this month.

Pride is highest among people aged 55 and over — at 92 per cent — while 86 per cent of people between the ages of 35 and 54 and 75 per cent of people aged 18 to 34 said they were proud to be Canadian.

The poll sampled more than 1,500 Canadians from March 1 to March 2. Because it was conducted online, it can’t be assigned a margin of error.

National pride spiked among respondents in Quebec, Ontario, the Prairies and British Columbia.

Read more from the Canadian Press

4 a.m. Trump called Canada a ‘tariff abuser.’ Does Ottawa mistreat American importers?

U.S. President Donald Trump continues to single out Canada as a bad trading partner, claiming in a recent social media post that his northern neighbour is a “tariff abuser” that charges high rates on American goods.

The vast majority of U.S. products are not subject to any tariffs under the terms of the North American free trade pact signed by the president during his first term, though recent events have muddied those waters somewhat.

“Ninety-eight or 97 per cent of goods that come into Canada flow in tariff-free,” said Clifford Sosnow, who heads the Fasken law firm’s international trade and investment group.

Read more from the Canadian Press

4 a.m. Tariff war forcing N.B. to cut trade barriers, go into deficit 

FREDERICTON—Nearly seven years after the New Brunswick government went to the Supreme Court to prevent the free movement of alcohol across the country, Premier Susan Holt says the tariff war with the United States is forcing the province to rethink its approach to trade.

Holt’s government is set to table legislation soon that would allow New Brunswick companies to sell alcohol directly to consumers in other provinces, and permit New Brunswickers to transport spirits across provincial boundaries, she said.

“New Brunswickers want to enjoy B.C. wines the same way folks in B.C. want to enjoy New Brunswick craft breweries,” the premier said in a recent interview.

Read more from the Canadian Press

4 a.m. In America’s ‘most Canadian town,’ Trump’s trade war wounds wallets and hearts

The tiny community of Point Roberts is a little bit of America, firmly fixed to British Columbia.

It’s the result of a cartographic quirk, occupying the southern tip of the otherwise-Canadian Tsawwassen peninsula that is surrounded by water, but dangles south of the 49th parallel.

The exclave gets water and electricity from Metro Vancouver and sometimes Canadian firefighters come to the rescue.

The strange situation of the tiny Washington state community — solely attached to Canada but part of the United States — has some residents feeling caught between forces beyond their control, amid the spiralling trade war and rhetoric between the two countries.

Read more from the Canadian Press

Catch up on Tuesday’s important developments:

Doug Ford lines up Washington meeting in signs of potential breakthrough

After a frenetic day of on-again, off-again escalating tariff threats by U.S. President Donald Trump, there were signs of a possible breakthrough, but little sense the chaos threatening the Canada-U.S. relationship is letting up.

Premier Doug Ford scored a high-stakes meeting for himself and federal Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc with top Trump trade officials, and the stock markets underscored that companies and investors hate the uncertainty of the roiling economy.

The good news — if there is such a thing — is that Canadian steel and aluminum will not face a 50 per cent American tariff as Trump threatened first thing Tuesday, in venting his fury against Ford’s export charge on Ontario electricity sold to New York, Michigan and Minnesota.

The bad news — in case anyone doubted the president — is that Canadian steel and aluminum will still face the 25 per cent tariff that Trump ordered to take effect on his first day in office, the same tariff that is to be in force against all global steel and aluminum on Wednesday. And Trump has not paused other sectoral and broad commercial tariff threats that remain.

Read more from the Star’s Tonda MacCharles and Robert Benzie

Donald Trump calls Doug Ford a ‘very strong man’ as premier continues U.S. media blitz against tariffs

Premier Doug Ford’s U.S. media blitz may be forcing President Donald Trump to change the channel on his costly trade war with Canada.

In a world where Trump is fixated on cable news channels, Ford’s almost daily interviews on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and CNBC, as well ABC and CBS, appear to be having an impact.

Speaking to reporters outside the White House, the president referred to the premier of Ontario, whom he did not mention by name, as “a very strong man” and expressed grudging admiration for his negotiating skills.

Trump’s comments came after Ford announced he would pause Ontario’s 25 per cent surcharge on electricity sold stateside in retaliation for the U.S. tariffs.

“I respect that,” the president said of the premier’s move.