Ontario Premier Doug Ford stated Thursday that he hopes Republicans lose control of both the House and Senate in the upcoming U.S. midterm elections, suggesting voters should hold President Donald Trump accountable for his administration's escalation of the trade dispute with Canada.
"Hopefully, he's going to lose the Senate. He's going to lose Congress. I hope so, and hold him accountable," Ford said, adding that while he hopes for this outcome, "We aren’t going to interfere in the U.S. election."
Ford, a vocal critic of Trump's trade policies, accused the U.S. president of attempting to move Ontario's businesses and jobs across the border. "He’s not reliable at all," Ford said. "He could make a deal today and then change his mind. And we’ve seen that over and over again."
Despite his criticism, Ford expressed a belief that Trump desires to reach a trade agreement before the midterms and that Canada should return to negotiations promptly. "I truly believe President Trump wants a deal before the midterms," Ford stated. "I could be wrong, but I think it’s best that we sit down and get a deal."
The recent escalation of the trade dispute saw the U.S. ban certain Canadian dairy products, motorcycles, and most alcoholic beverages. This action followed Canada's imposition of retaliatory tariffs on approximately $20 billion worth of U.S. goods. The U.S. also took steps to remove Canadian products from long-term government contracts.
Ford has previously mocked Trump for maintaining a portrait of former President Ronald Reagan, who opposed tariffs, while implementing his own trade measures. He suggested Reagan would be "throwing up on him from the picture if he knew what was going on."
Trump, in turn, has criticized Ford, calling him "the less charismatic, intelligent, and overall unimpressive brother of the late, great, Rob Ford."
Tensions were further heightened when Trump signed an executive order to rename Lake Ontario as "Lake America." This rebranding is not recognized by Canada or other U.S. states and international bodies, though it adds to the existing friction between the two nations.
Ford also suggested that Trump's actions had inadvertently benefited Canada by pushing it toward reducing its dependence on the U.S. He posited that the "only two good things Donald Trump has ever done for Canada" were that "he woke us up" and "he united the country like I’ve never seen before."
Meanwhile, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney indicated that his country might refrain from further retaliation against Trump's latest trade measures, describing them as "relatively modest" compared to previous U.S. actions. Carney stated that the government was still analyzing the U.S. measures, acknowledging their potential impact on businesses and industries, but noted that some of the new U.S. tariffs replaced ones previously removed by the Trump administration. "We also recognize that, in the context of other things that the U.S. administration has done ... that these are relatively modest measures," Carney said at a cabinet retreat in Banff, Alberta.