Ontario Premier Doug Ford embarked on a marathon of interviews with U.S. media this week to promote the importance of trade between Canada and its southern neighbour in the hopes it may convince president-elect Donald Trump to back off his tariff threats.
Ford spoke with The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Associated Press and Bloomberg News on Tuesday before taking part in an interview with CNN host Erin Burnett that evening, where he seemed to strike a conciliatory tone.
“You know, both sides of the border are going to feel the pain. We rely on each other,” he said during the interview with Burnett.
“I love Americans, I love the U.S. and we’re so much stronger together.”
Ford also said he’d like to sit down with Trump “businessman to businessman and have a conversation.”
Trump has said he will levy a blanket 25 per cent tariff on Canadian goods if the country doesn’t crack down on the number of migrants and drugs entering the U.S.
A spokesperson for the premier’s office said Ford was embarking on the media tour to highlight the deep economic relationship between the two countries, and the impact tariffs will also have on American workers and families.
“The imposition of tariffs by the US would be a significant failure on the part of the federal government and to protect Canadian workers, we need a full Team Canada approach,” the spokesperson said.
WATCH | Doug Ford embarks on U.S. media blitz against potential tariffs:
Impact of interviews up for debate
But how much impact Ford’s efforts will have remains to be seen.
What a provincial leader says usually doesn’t get much attention in the U.S., even if Ford is the premier of Canada’s most populous province, said Gary Hufbauer, a non-resident senior fellow at Peterson Institute for International Economics.
“It would be kind of like, what would people say if one of the U.S. states’ governors said something about Canada? I don’t think Canadians would pay much attention to that,” said Hufbauer, who has written extensively about international trade.
“It’s really a national government issue, not a provincial or state issue.”
Hufbauer said Ford might be better off sticking to his threat of withholding energy exports to the U.S. states, where the impact would be felt in the northeast.
Ontario exported 17,500 gigawatt hours of electricity in 2022 — 9,068 of which went to Michigan and 4,823 went to New York, according to Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO), the Crown corporation responsible for electricity exports to the U.S.
One gigawatt of electricity is enough to power 100 million LED light bulbs.
“I mean, all Canada would have to do is interrupt electricity for Monday, Wednesday and Friday. That would be well noted,” Hufbauer said.
WATCH | Doug Ford reiterates threats to halt Ontario energy exports to the U.S.:
While not a federal leader, Ford may be able to connect with an audience that Canada’s prime minister might not be able to, said Peter Graefe, a McMaster University associate professor of political science.
“There will be audiences that won’t listen to a Liberal government headed by Justin Trudeau, but a Conservative politician who speaks in a pretty populist manner maybe reaches some aspects of Donald Trump’s support base, but maybe also some politicians who support Trump,” Graefe said.
At the end of the day, the real leadership in this looming trade battle will need to come out of Ottawa, Graefe said.
“Ford is more visible because Mr. Trudeau is in crisis, doesn’t have the time to really expand on this file, but it’s not like [Ford]’s really connected to the levers that are going to be making the final decisions,” he said.
“So it’s hard to see him really as a leader on this file.”
