Doug Ford Tells Trump to "Kiss My Ass" as Tariffs on $28 Billion in Canadian Goods Take Effect

Ontario Premier Doug Ford stood in Hamilton on Monday and told reporters the president of the United States can "kiss my ass."

He wasn't quoting himself for effect. He'd said it that morning on Toronto radio station NewsTalk 1010, and when a reporter asked him about it at his afternoon press conference, he leaned in. "I have a lot of real estate on my ass, so he has a lot of room to kiss my ass," Ford said, according to CBC News. "I'm a big dude, what can I say?"

This was a head of a Canadian provincial government talking about the American president in terms that showed how far this trade fight had escalated.

How we got here

The dispute traces back to Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs, which slapped a 25% universal tariff on Canada and Mexico, according to Forbes. Trump initially exempted most trade compliant with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). But the administration declined to renew that deal during a joint review in July, citing concerns it wouldn't fix U.S. trade deficits or bring back manufacturing jobs.

Talks between Washington and Ottawa collapsed late Friday. Prime Minister Mark Carney walked away, saying the U.S. was demanding too much in exchange for tariff relief, according to Breitbart's report on the Associated Press interview. Each government blames the other for the breakdown.

On Saturday, the U.S. imposed 50% tariffs on Canadian goods. CBC News put the affected trade at roughly $28 billion; Forbes and other outlets cited a $20 billion figure tied to a narrower set of products. The tariffs hit hockey sticks, wine, honey, farm goods, clothing and cameras.

Carney responded by promising dollar-for-dollar retaliation starting September 8, targeting steel, agriculture, dairy and electronics. "You're at war when you get attacked. We got attacked," Carney said Saturday, a comparison to armed conflict that's rhetorically loaded but reflects how seriously Ottawa is treating this.

Monday's escalation

Trump kicked off Monday with a Truth Social post threatening to raise tariffs on all cars, trucks, auto parts and steel from Canada to 50% starting January 1, 2027. "Build in the U.S. and there are ZERO TARIFFS," he wrote, according to Yahoo News. He also accused Canada of "ripping off the United States of America for years" over what he called its "ridiculously high tariffs" on American farmers.

Then, right as Ford's press conference was getting underway, Trump posted again, dismissing Ford as "the less charismatic, intelligent, and overall unimpressive brother of the late, great, Rob Ford" and calling him Carney's "flunky," according to Global News.

Ford didn't let it sit. "I don't respond to a dictator like President Trump, a bully like President Trump," he said. "I'm not gonna take any advice off a guy that's the king of bankruptcies." That's a reference to the six business bankruptcies filed by Trump's casino and hotel companies in the 1990s and 2000s, as Forbes noted.

Ford went further in a separate interview with the Associated Press, telling reporters that Ronald Reagan would be "throwing up" over Trump's tariff policies, according to PBS and Breitbart. Ford has previously used Reagan's anti-tariff rhetoric in a TV ad campaign aimed at American audiences, something that reportedly angered Trump last year.

The threats get concrete

This isn't just an insult contest. Ford threatened to cut off electricity and critical mineral exports to the U.S. if the fight worsens. "I'll cut them off," he told the AP. "You won't get a grain of sand out of Ontario." He also floated reintroducing a surcharge on Ontario's electricity exports and suggested Canada use oil, potash and uranium as leverage, according to a report from The Trillium, published via Sudbury.com.

Trump answered that with his own threat, warning that "much of the Electricity, Oil, and Gas that Canada gets is transported through the U.S.A," and suggesting consequences would be "far WORSE" for Canada if it didn't fall in line, per the Trillium report. That reads as a veiled threat against pipelines like Line 5, which carries crude oil and natural gas products into Ontario.

Critical minerals aren't a small side issue. The Pentagon has been trying to secure more reliable supplies of minerals used in military aircraft, missiles and electronics, partly to cut dependence on China, according to Breitbart. If Ontario actually cut off exports, that would touch U.S. national security planning, not just consumer prices.

Politics bleeding into the fight

Ford also urged Americans to vote against Trump's allies in the upcoming midterms. "If I was allowed to, I'd be down there door-knocking," he said, according to the Independent and Yahoo News. A foreign provincial official openly campaigning against a sitting U.S. president's party is unusual, and it's fair to note Ford has no standing in American elections beyond public commentary.

Ford's defenders would say he's responding to genuine economic damage: tariffs that raise costs on Canadian exporters and, by extension, American consumers who buy Canadian goods. Trump's team would counter that Canada has run a persistent trade surplus with the U.S. in some sectors and leaned on the USMCA framework without matching market access for American producers, particularly in agriculture and dairy. That's a longstanding U.S. grievance that predates this specific fight.

Neither side has offered a face-saving off-ramp yet. Carney's retaliatory tariffs are set to hit September 8. Trump's auto and steel tariff hike isn't scheduled until January 1, 2027. That leaves months where both governments could still talk, or where things could get considerably more expensive for buyers of cars, groceries and electricity on both sides of the border.