Canadians are rallying round their government after US President Donald Trump announced tariffs that will kick in from Tuesday.
Goods coming from Canada into the USA will attract a 25 percent tariff, the Canadians equally imposed the same on goods coming from the USA. Canadians are already boycotting US liquor and other products supplied by US companies.
On Monday, Ontario, Canada’s most populous province and its economic engine, announced a ban on US companies bidding on tens of billions of dollars’ worth of government contracts, and dumped a deal with Elon Musk’s Starlink in a pushback to US tariffs.
“Ontario won’t do business with people hellbent on destroying our economy,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said on X.
“US-based businesses will now lose out on tens of billions of dollars in new revenues. They only have President Trump to blame.”
Ford said he was “ripping up” a Can$100 million (US$68 million) contract with Starlink, signed in November, to provide internet services to 15,000 homes and businesses in remote northern parts of Ontario.
Starlink satellites were to start beaming internet services to northern Ontario starting in June.
The company’s owner, Elon Musk, is the world’s richest man and a close adviser to US President Donald Trump, who vowed to slap 25 percent tariffs on Canadian imports starting on Tuesday.
The government-run Liquor Control Board of Ontario is one of the world’s largest single buyers of alcohol, supplying its own stores as well as local restaurants, bars and other retailers in the province.
It sells almost Can$1 billion worth of US alcohol, or about 3,600 products, each year.
Trump spoke earlier Monday with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about the tariffs, and said in a post on his Truth Social platform they would speak again later in the day.
