In his latest musing on the 25% electrical surcharge levied on consumers of Canadian electricity in Michigan, Minnesota and New York, President Donald Trump struggled to comprehend why having one, large, interconnected electrical grid is better than the alternative.
“Why would our Country allow another Country to supply us with electricity, even for a small area? Who made these decisions, and why?” he asked in a post on social media. It’s unclear if he was asking rhetorically or if he was genuinely seeking an answer.
Trump then blamed Canada for harming “the life of innocent people” with the tax, neglecting to acknowledge the tariff was only imposed in response to his own 25% across-the-board tariff on Canadian goods.
“And can you imagine Canada stooping so low as to use ELECTRICITY, that so affects the life of innocent people, as a bargaining chip and threat?” he wrote. “They will pay a financial price for this so big that it will be read about in History Books for many years to come!”
The president would be well advised to read up on Texas, which has an electrical grid that’s famously isolated from the rest of the country. As a result, it’s far more fragile than the rest of America’s interconnected grids, and in periods of intense use, it has had to import electricity from Mexico.
In 2021, Texas’ power grid nearly suffered a total collapse during a winter storm that sent energy bills in the state skyrocketing.
On Monday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford apologized to the American people as he explained the rationale for the surcharge in an interview with NBC. He dropped the charge entirely Tuesday afternoon, saying he wanted to “let cooler heads prevail.”
“I apologize to the American people because we all know in Canada that it’s not the American people. It’s one person [behind these tariffs], and that’s President Trump,” said Ford. “You can’t go after your largest customer, your closest friend, your closest ally in the world, and not expect a reaction.”
Asked why he thought Trump would engage in such a strategy, Ford was at a loss for words.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” he said. “He ran on a mandate to lower inflation, create jobs, look at growth; he’s done the total opposite.”
Around 1.5 million Americans were temporarily paying $70 more a month for power as a result of the tariff war. Ontario has threatened to cut off electricity exports to the U.S. entirely should Trump keep escalating.
Go Ad-Free — And Protect The Free Press
Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages.
Trump failed to heed that warning and responded Tuesday by doubling tariffs on Canadian aluminum and steel imports.