The Globe and Mail
· collected 2026-08-25 · by Jeff Gray, Marieke Walsh, Adrian Morrow
Ontario Premier Doug Ford traded insults with U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday, while acknowledging he had told Prime Minister Mark Carney last week that his province would not support the now-aborted U.S. trade deal nor would it lift its ban on American booze at liquor stores.
asserted
it → trade → stores
Mr. Ford said that, from the start, he objected to the U.S. tariff reductions on autos and steel floated last week as too meagre.
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he → say → autos
And, as the week wore on, industry and union leaders also increasingly urged him to reject the deal, which was first outlined to premiers in a call with Mr. Carney last Wednesday.
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which → wear → Carney
Addressing reporters on Monday, the Premier was asked when he told the Prime Minister he would not sign on to the deal and would not heed Mr. Carney’s request – a key demand from U.S. negotiators – to allow U.S. alcohol back into the Liquor Control Board of Ontario stores.
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he → address → stores
Mr. Ford said he told Mr. Carney on Friday, before the public announcement that Canada was walking away from the table, that Ontario was out.
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Ontario → say → table
“The day, and the night, I did tell him I can’t support it,” Mr. Ford said.
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Ford → tell → it
“I can’t go to Dofasco and look a steel worker in the eyes, knowing that if we took this deal, he wouldn’t have a job in a couple years.”
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he → go → years
One source with knowledge of the discussion between Mr. Ford and the Prime Minister said the Premier told Mr. Carney late on Friday that Ontario would not put American booze back on the shelves and would not change procurement policies that disadvantaged U.S. businesses – potential dealbreakers for American negotiators.
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that → say → negotiators
On Monday, the Premier said that when the deal was first outlined last Wednesday, he had told the Prime Minister that it “wasn’t a good deal” but that he was willing to back “Team Canada.”
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he → say → Canada
Two other sources with knowledge of that conversation, which took place on a conference call with all premiers, said Mr. Ford pledged to co-operate with the request to put booze back on the shelves and to change procurement rules.
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Ford → take → rules
The Globe and Mail is not identifying the sources who were not authorized to disclose details of the private talks.
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who → identify → talks
Mr. Ford, who was uncharacteristically out of the public eye as the clock ticked down on the negotiations last week, started Monday off by telling a Toronto talk-radio station, just after Mr. Trump threatened more industry-crushing tariffs, that the U.S. President could “kiss my ass,” and that Canada would be “controlling the oil and gas going down there.”
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Canada → tick → oil
Later, hopping out of an SUV to speak to reporters at a new housing development in Hamilton, he said Ontario was considering reimposing a surcharge on electricity sent to the U.S. – something Mr. Ford enacted but then quickly withdrew last year, after the move prompted a public reprimand and renewed tariff threat from Mr. Trump.
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move → hop → Trump
Ontario Premier Doug Ford says everything is on the table, including surcharges on electricity the province sends to several American states, amid the escalating U.S.-Canada trade war.
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province → say → war
Ford called U.S. President Donald Trump a 'loser' in his response to the latest tariff threats.
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Ford → call → threats
The Ontario Premier said he was also considering using critical minerals as a bargaining chip, saying “everything’s on the table.”
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everything → say → table
And he suggested Saskatchewan’s uranium and potash and Alberta’s oil should be included in this discussion, moves previously opposed by Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.
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uranium → suggest → Moe
Mr. Ford said he planned to speak with Ms. Smith later Monday.
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he → say → Smith
Then, reporters’ phones stared buzzing: The U.S. President had issued a screed on his Truth Social social-media platform targeting Mr. Ford.
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President → star → Ford
“Lots of ‘bluster’ from Doug Ford, who is the Premier of the Canadian Province of Ontario, but who is better known as the less charismatic, intelligent, and overall unimpressive brother of the late, great, Rob Ford,” the post reads.
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post → know → Ford
The post goes on to call the Prime Minister “Governor Carney” and refers to Mr. Ford as Mr. Carney’s “Flunky.”
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post → go → Flunky
It also warns against any move to leverage electricity or oil.
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It → warn → electricity
“Remember, much of the Electricity, Oil, and Gas that Canada gets is transported through the U.S.A. Someone should get these clowns to ‘fall in line’ or, the consequences for Canada will be far WORSE!”
Asked several times about the post, Mr. Ford said Mr. Trump was a “dictator” and the “king of bankruptcies” as a businessman.
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Trump → remember → businessman
And he urged Americans to vote against Trump-supporting Republicans in the coming midterm elections.
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he → urge → elections
“I’m not going to take the bait,” Mr. Ford said.
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Ford → go → bait
“This guy’s a loser.
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guy → ’ → ?
He’s going to be a loser, simple as that.
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He → go → that
We’re going to fight with everything we have, and you know something, I have more courage, more brains, in my baby toe that he has in his whole body.”
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he → go → body
It’s not clear the war of words is over.
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war → ’ → words
The Premier has plans to return to U.S. cable TV news channels on Tuesday, to continue to hit back at the President and his tariffs.
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Premier → have → President
Mr. Ford did say that he would hold off from running another pro-free-trade TV ad in the U.S., like the one that angered Mr. Trump and that Mr. Carney blamed for scuppering trade talks last October.
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Carney → say → talks
On Monday evening, Alberta’s Premier said in a post on X that she spoke with Mr. Ford.
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she → say → Ford
She said she recognizes “that these tariffs have a disproportionate impact on Ontario businesses” and that she supports working together to strengthen the Canadian economy.
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she → say → economy
But she also nixed the idea of any energy embargo:
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she → nix → embargo
“As I’ve said in the past, cutting off Alberta energy exports to the U.S. would be extremely harmful to Canadians and is not a viable option.”
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cutting → say → Canadians
Also on Monday, Mr. Ford announced a move to immediately expand his $1-billion fund that offers loans to tariff-hit businesses, in order to include the new sectors affected by the latest U.S. levies.
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that → announce → levies
And he repeated his call for the federal government to exempt tariff-hit sectors from emissions rules, such as the industrial carbon tax, and to “eliminate federal greenhouse gas emissions standards for Canadian-made vehicles.”
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government → repeat → vehicles
Mr. Ford said the changes – demands he made to Mr. Carney in a letter about the tariff talks last week – would provide hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of relief to the auto and steel industries.
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he → say → industries
