Ontario Premier Doug Ford has entered a vicious war of words with U.S. President Donald Trump, calling him a “loser” during a fiery news conference Monday afternoon.
Moments before Ford started speaking, Trump posted a lengthy message to the premier on his Truth Social platform, saying he was the “unimpressive brother” of former mayor Rob 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,” Trump wrote around 2 p.m. on Monday.
“Governor Carney, and his Flunky, Ford … will not be allowed to keep taking advantage of the United States — Their key to survival. 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!”
Speaking in Hamilton, Ford hit back at the president repeatedly, suggesting he would campaign against the Republican president in the midterms if he could.
“I don’t respond to a dictator like President Trump, a bully like President Trump,” Ford told reporters. “I’m not going to take any advice off a guy that’s the king of bankruptcies.”
Over the course of a 45-minute news conference, Ford repeatedly took aim at Trump, who he said could “kiss my ass.”
“Let’s be clear, I don’t like the guy — simple,” Ford told reporters.
Premier resists calls to recall legislature
As Ford went through his attacks on Trump and offered optimism that the Ontario economy could withstand the latest round of tariffs, his political opponents urged him to recall the legislature.
Under their original schedule, MPPs should have returned to Queen’s Park after the Labour Day long weekend, but the Progressive Conservatives pushed that back to the end of October.
Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles called on Ford to urgently reconvene elected officials so they could collaborate.
“Today, I’ve asked Doug Ford to immediately recall the legislature so that we can pass an emergency relief bill to support Ontario workers in tariff-exposed sectors and businesses,” Stiles said.
“It is our duty as elected officials to immediately get to work in the fight against Donald Trump’s inexcusable and dangerous tariffs.”
Ford, however, said he had no intention of bringing politicians back to the legislature, claiming the request was “gutter politics” by the opposition.
“I have been in this game a long time. They want to play gutter politics,” Ford said. “They voted against every single item that we did for the last year to protect Ontario. I am swamped right now.”
Ontario Liberal interim leader John Fraser echoed Stiles’ call, saying politicians should be at Queen’s Park to scrutinize and debate the best tariff response.
Talks broke down Friday
The war of words between the two leaders comes after trade talks collapsed late Friday evening, when Prime Minister Mark Carney recalled negotiators to Ottawa.
At one point, a deal looked possible. Although Canadian officials had urged some caution, Trump had declared, “we have a deal.”
The collapse of talks triggered 50 per cent tariffs from the United States on billions of dollars of goods, levies Canada says it will match “dollar-for-dollar” in early September.
Carney said over the weekend trade talks fell apart over disagreements about how to handle tariffs on trucks, Canadian language rules and restrictions on which countries it could strike trade deals with.
Monday morning saw Trump escalate his threats against Canada, suggesting he could levy even more tariffs.
“On January First, 2027, Tariffs on all Cars, Trucks, both large and small, Automotive Parts, and Steel, will be increased to 50 per cent. Build in the U.S. and there are ZERO TARIFFS,” he posted to Truth Social Monday morning.
“Canada has been ripping off the United States of America for years. Their ridiculously high tariffs on our Farmers and farm products has made life impossible for these great American Patriots, and has long created a 60 Billion Dollar Deficit between our two Countries. Not sustainable, and NOT ANYMORE!”
He also added that “Canada will be treated like a State no longer!”
— with files from Global News’ Adriana Fallico