Ontario Premier Doug Ford says it’s time to usher in a new “golden age” of Canadian-American relations following a historic meeting in Washington D.C. with all thirteen of Canada’s premiers and senior members of the Trump administration.
The gathering took place on Wednesday at The White House in a last-ditch effort to negotiate the country out of Trump’s looming tariffs, which Ford says would “devastate” the Canadian economy.
The latest set of import taxes on steel and aluminum, which President Trump announced on Monday, will take effect on March. 12, in addition to recently delayed blanket levies that were put on hold for 30 days, earlier this month.
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Ford appears to be leading the charge against the tariffs, and is making their prevention a cornerstone of his campaign for the upcoming provincial election on Feb.27.
Canada’s premiers are at the White House to make the case that there’s no better partner to create jobs, grow our economies and keep our communities safe than America’s ally to the north. pic.twitter.com/RpCTnAYrwP
— Doug Ford (@fordnation) February 12, 2025
In a post on X on Thursday, he reiterated his intention to find a solution.
“Whether it’s in Washington, on American airwaves or in factories across Ontario, I’ll never stop making the case that Canada and the United States are so much stronger together,” he wrote.
Whether it’s in Washington, on American airwaves or in factories across Ontario, I’ll never stop making the case that Canada and the United States are so much stronger together. pic.twitter.com/1oO9bS6E5o
— Doug Ford (@fordnation) February 13, 2025
Meanwhile, in comments to reporters following the negotiations, Ford, joined by Quebec Premier François Legault and David Eby, the premier for British Columbia, said they engaged in a “constructive” conversation with the Trump administration, though he would not disclose whom they spoke with.
“I’m not at liberty to say…it’s very high ranking administration,” he told reporters.
Legault also kept his cards close to his chest.
“Like Doug said, we had a good conversation with two people, high level and we discussed ways to come back with a good relationship between Canada and the U.S., and I think we had answers with ways to progress,” he said.
Eby said he and his colleagues had “good conversations,” with Trump’s Deputy Chief of Staff, James Blair and Director of Presidential Personnel, Sergio Gor.
“The dominant impression is that it was a very significant day at The White House, they still sent two senior reps to meet with us, it was a good conversation, I thought it was constructive, there were some very frank moments across the table, and they urged us to take the president at his word and so we will certainly do that,” Eby said.
In addition to tariff threats, Trump has made repeated comments about making Canada the 51st state.
Eby confirmed that this threat was addressed in the meeting.
“We underlined that that was a non-starter,” he said.
Nonetheless, in a post to X, Blair said, “To be clear, we never agreed that Canada would not be the 51st state. We only agreed to share Premier Eby’s comments.”
The British Columbia premier hinted that meetings with key U.S. officials are likely to continue.
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