Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news Now.
Speaker 2: As markets are brac in Canada is also bracing for
Speaker 2: higher tariffs and immediate challenge for Mark Carney, the former
Speaker 2: governor of the Bank of Canada and Bank of England,
Speaker 2: who is set to take over as the country's prime
Speaker 2: minister after winning the race to succeed Justin Trudeau. During
Speaker 2: his victory speech yesterday, Carney had this sharp message for
Speaker 2: President Trump on trade.
Speaker 3: The Canadian government has rightly retaliated and is rightly retaliating
Speaker 3: with our own tariffs that will have maximum impact in
Speaker 3: the United States and minimum impact here in Canada. And
Speaker 3: my government will keep our tariffs on until the Americans
Speaker 3: show us respect.
Speaker 2: And we did see further retaliation today with Ontario Premier
Speaker 2: Doug Ford ordering a twenty five percent surcharge on electricity
Speaker 2: exports to three US states, and Premiere Ford is joining
Speaker 2: us now for more here on Bloomberg TV and Radio.
Speaker 2: Premier Ford, thank you for your time. You have suggested
Speaker 2: that this surcharge could be hiked, or potentially that electricity
Speaker 2: exports to the US could be cut off entirely if
Speaker 2: there is escalation from this administration. What escalation would precipitate
Speaker 2: that response from you.
Speaker 1: Well, first of all, thanks so much for having me
Speaker 1: on Kiley and Joe. I appreciate the opportunity. I start
Speaker 1: off with every interview saying we love Americans, we love
Speaker 1: the US, Canadians love Americans. I do spent twenty years
Speaker 1: of my life in Chicago and New Jersey and saying this.
Speaker 1: This is one person. It's not the American people. It's
Speaker 1: not even Republicans that I've talked to governors or senators
Speaker 1: or congress women and men. As one person. That's President
Speaker 1: Trump has created this chaos, not just here in Canada
Speaker 1: and US and Mexico, but around the world right now.
Speaker 1: You know, he ran on a mandate to lower inflation,
Speaker 1: create more jobs, and it's done the total opposite. Inflation's
Speaker 1: going up. Assembly plants will close. If he continues on
Speaker 1: with these tariffs in the auto sector, people will lose
Speaker 1: their jobs, Manufacturing will go down, and people will have
Speaker 1: less money in their pockets. I believe in the name
Speaker 1: can Fortress. Let's create American Canadian Fortress and have the strongest, wealthiest,
Speaker 1: most prosperous two countries in the entire world. That's what
Speaker 1: I believe in.
Speaker 4: Have you talked about your own retaliation with incoming Prime
Speaker 4: Minister Karney. Are you both on the same page on this.
Speaker 1: I just got off the phone with him a minute ago,
Speaker 1: and Prime Minister Elect Carney extremely break the individual when
Speaker 1: it comes to finances and other areas of business. I'm
Speaker 1: going to be sitting down with them this week and
Speaker 1: having a conversation. But he's right in line with what
Speaker 1: I believe in across the country. Patriotsm is running wild
Speaker 1: like I've never seen before. And again it's not against
Speaker 1: the American people. It's one person I called the self
Speaker 1: inflicted potential recession. There's one person that will put us
Speaker 1: in a recession, and that's President Trump.
Speaker 2: So you've spoken with the incoming Prime Minister. Have you
Speaker 2: had a chance to speak with the President or anyone
Speaker 2: in this administration since putting into place this surcharge today?
Speaker 1: No, I haven't. I spoke to Secretary Lutnik, another great
Speaker 1: individual when it comes to finances, and I agree or
Speaker 1: disagree with President Trump, he's an extremely bright business person.
Speaker 1: If they can't see this, when the market speaks, I
Speaker 1: always say, when the market speaks, you have to listen.
Speaker 1: The market is speaking. CEOs are speaking people are speaking out.
Speaker 1: Why is he doing this to his largest customer in
Speaker 1: the world, Canada. No one buys more products off the
Speaker 1: US than Canada does, including autos four hundred percent more
Speaker 1: than Mexico, two hundred percent more than anywhere in the world.
Speaker 1: And we buy as many cars as we ship down there,
Speaker 1: and the one ship down there are fifty percent American
Speaker 1: made parts. You can't I always say that you can't
Speaker 1: unscramble an egg that's been around since the nineteen sixties,
Speaker 1: the auto pack. We have to make a larger almland.
Speaker 1: That's what we need to do.
Speaker 4: Well, your export tariffing electricity here, you've called for possibly
Speaker 4: export tariffing crude. I wonder what is your message to
Speaker 4: Premier Smith of Alberta, who's staunchly opposed to that idea.
Speaker 1: Well, that's strictly up the Premier Smith. I have no
Speaker 1: jurisdiction in Alberta. That will be up to Premier Smith.
Speaker 1: But Americans have to remember President Trump said, I should
Speaker 1: say President Trump should remember that Alberta ship's four point
Speaker 1: three million barrels a day down to the US. And
Speaker 1: there's nothing more than I'd want to do is send
Speaker 1: more energy, more critical minerals rather than raised tariffs. I
Speaker 1: don't believe in protectionism. With your two closest friends and
Speaker 1: allies in the entire world. As we're going back and
Speaker 1: forth at each other, China's ramping up every single day
Speaker 1: in the critical minerals, and they've cut the US off
Speaker 1: for critical minerals for their military. We have it. Ontario
Speaker 1: is more critical minerals than anywhere in the world. And
Speaker 1: who do I want to give it to. I want
Speaker 1: to give it to our closest friends and allies, the US.
Speaker 2: Well, when we're considering what commodities Ontario does have, you've
Speaker 2: threatened to cut off the supply of nickel from mines
Speaker 2: in Ontario. Is that a real threat? And again, what
Speaker 2: would make you act on that? What action from the
Speaker 2: Trump administration would see that response?
Speaker 1: Well, fifty percent of the high grade nickel, and I
Speaker 1: emphasize high grade nickel in the US their military and
Speaker 1: aerospace and manufacturing comes from Ontario. Again, Kaylee, I want
Speaker 1: to send more nickel, more high grade nickel, more lithium,
Speaker 1: more cobalt. We have thirty three of the most critical
Speaker 1: minerals that the whole world wants. I don't want to
Speaker 1: give them to anyone. I want to give them to
Speaker 1: our closest friend and allies. That's what I want to do.
Speaker 1: I want to create that damncan fortress.
Speaker 4: This is interesting, and I wonder, Premiere, what your thoughts
Speaker 4: are about President Trump's motivations. What's his obsession? If I
Speaker 4: can use that word with Canada. Clearly we've established that
Speaker 4: much more fentanyl, by many thousands of pounds a years
Speaker 4: going through Mexico. Have you heard that message from this
Speaker 4: White House? What it is that Canada could do to
Speaker 4: bring these tariffs down?
Speaker 1: Well, your guess is as good as mine, Joe, because
Speaker 1: when the President said tighten up the border, we acted
Speaker 1: immediately to tighten up the border. I had the DEA
Speaker 1: in my office at the US Border Patrol and Canadian
Speaker 1: Border Patrol, federal and state police, and we're doing that.
Speaker 1: We put over ten thousand personnel along our border. But
Speaker 1: it works both ways. You know, I hate drugs. I
Speaker 1: can't stand one graham of fentanyl coming in, But where's
Speaker 1: the precursors coming from? From China? They gave me a report,
Speaker 1: our provincial police equal to our state police, that hundreds
Speaker 1: of kilos of cocaine are coming from the southern border
Speaker 1: that we're caught in the last couple of weeks, illegal guns, illegals, opioids, fentanyl, everything.
Speaker 1: We have a shared border, and I know our Canadian
Speaker 1: and American border patrol folks work together, our police work together.
Speaker 1: So we're going to do everything we can to stop
Speaker 1: the flow of drugs and illegals and guns coming back
Speaker 1: and forth across the border. But it has dropped drastically
Speaker 1: here in Canada.
Speaker 2: Well, President Trump contends, it's not just an issue with
Speaker 2: what's flowing over the border. This is also about making
Speaker 2: sure trade between the US and Canada is more fair.
Speaker 2: Hence the threat of reciprocal tariffs against things like lumber
Speaker 2: and dairy premiers. Should Canada consider lowering rates charge there
Speaker 2: so that it doesn't require a reciprocal tariff?
Speaker 1: Well, Kaylee, I'll tell you the facts. You take the
Speaker 1: oil off the balance sheet because the US needs it.
Speaker 1: The US has a fifty six billion dollars surplus on
Speaker 1: manufacturing and services with Canada, so they have a surplus
Speaker 1: of fifty six billion. I have no problem with that.
Speaker 1: That's fine. Let's grow the pie, as I say, grow
Speaker 1: the ame one, make it larger. As you know, as
Speaker 1: our foes be it China is declaring an economic war.
Speaker 1: They've been doing that, by the way, quietly for the
Speaker 1: last ten years, while everyone's been sleeping, and they're sitting
Speaker 1: back laughing at the two greatest allies, you know, duking
Speaker 1: it up, back and forth.
Speaker 3: Up.
Speaker 1: Let's unite. We're stronger together united. We stand, divided, we fall.
Speaker 1: We need to stand united together.
Speaker 4: Thanks for joining us, Dougford Ontario's premiere. Great to have
Speaker 4: you with us on Balance of Power. We should also
Speaker 4: note that Mark Harney is the former chair of Bloomberg's
Speaker 4: Board of directors.