While the Prime Minister of Ontario Doug Ford goes to Washington, DC, for A meeting at the White HouseIts threat for prices or cutting American energy remains on the table and could return after the date of the high issues.
Ford and his team should enter and leave the American capital Thursday for a meeting with the trade secretary of President Donald Trump, Howard Lungick. The result of these talks could calm or rekindle business tensions.
The meeting comes after a week of whirlwind in which Ontario leveled a 25% supplement to the energy it exports to the United States before Trump responds on Tuesday by threatening its own 50% price on steel and aluminum.
His team called Ford’s threat to cut “blatant and insulting” power and promised to beat Canada with economic reprisals.
A few hours later, Lutnick called Ford and invited him to the White House for a meeting described by the first as an “Olivier branch”. Ford then interrupted its supplement of energy to facilitate the meeting and Trump lowered its price by 50% to the rate of 25% which it applies to the rest of the world.
Since then, the president has oscillated between calling Ford a “strong man” and describing the supplement as the “little threat” of Ontario. Lutnick too publicly claimed Ford “knows he made a mistake and he removed it”.
A high level of the Ontario government occurring in discussion to discuss the meeting recognized for Global News that Ford “took a chance” on a break and sitting with Lutnick in a volatile white house.
They said it was worth the risk of seeing if the economic sanctions against Canada, many of which threaten Ontario industries as the car manufacturers, could be removed.
Ford said on Tuesday that the “worst thing” he could do was to refuse the invitation to a meeting and that the government’s source stressed that if the meeting leads to nothing, Ontario will be back where it was at the start of the week.
However, they pointed out that the supplement of energy and the threat of completely reducing power remains on the table according to the progression of the meeting.
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The source said that if the Ford team had left the meeting thinking that there was a route to exempt Canada from steel and aluminum prices and to work together on a closer commercial relationship, the energy overload break would probably remain in place.
If the meeting is not going well, Ford could decide to put it back in place, they said.
“We will not be pushed,” said the source, referring to the White House meeting on Thursday.
Ontario Prime Minister Doug Ford is doing a pin with the United States and Canadian flags while speaking with journalists after an event in the American Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday, February 11, 2025, in Washington.
(AP photo / Mark Schiefelbein).
How does Ontario energy overload work?
If Ontario reintroduces the surcharge of 25% which it has perceived on the energy it sells in Michigan, Minnesota and New York, it should order the independent operator of the electricity system to add the fees once again.
The accusation would increase an average of $ 400,000 a day, the government said. Any money that the levy would be spent for Ontario families and businesses, said the province, although it still determines how it will be done.
A source from the Ministry of Energy said that civil servants and political staff still endeavored whether legislation would be required to spend money collected by the accusation. The source has obtained anonymity to explain the current policy considerations.
They said that the question of how energy funds could be spent is not urgent because the supplement is only collected monthly when the ISO establishes the market. The next date to take place is in mid-April.
The way in which the Ontario electrical network is managed means that the 25% supplement would be added by the group or the company which operates an individual power plant. They would add additional costs when selling energy in the United States and held it to the monthly regulations.
When Ieso ends his final regular calculations, he would then take the surcharge raised by various electricity generators and keep it in an account. The money could stay there until the Ford government is trying to go – and if it has to adopt legislation in order to move it.
Ontario could also further reduce power in the United States.
Putting the power that Ontario sells in the United States would force the province to reduce its own generation of energy to avoid causing problems in its own network. The electricity produced once it enters the system must go somewhere and cannot be wasted.
The electrical network operates similarly to a network of pipes filled with water. If the water enters the system and has no exit in which to spread, it can explode. In the case of energy, not having a place to do could cause overheating and, in the worst case, power outages.
Therefore, if Ontario decides to cut the United States, it should move its own energy production.
In this case, Ontario would first deactivate its natural gas production stations, said the Ministry of Energy. Then, it would reduce its hydroelectric generation by reducing the amount of water flowing towards the generation of turbines.
Wind turbines can also be disconnected during an extremely low demand period, the source said.
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