Canadian politics news — Ontario Premier Doug Ford told roughly 1,200 business leaders packed into a Toronto luncheon to stop hoping American tariffs vanish when Donald Trump leaves office. With Ford Tariffs possibly becoming a permanent feature of the cross-border economy, he said, Canada has to “plan as if tariffs are here for good.”
By Maplestime News Desk | Toronto, Ontario | October 15, 2026
Sources: Transport Topics, Bloomberg Law, Global News | Last updated: October 15, 2026
Key Takeaways
- Ford delivered a State of the Province keynote and a fireside chat with former Newfoundland and Labrador premier Andrew Furey at an Empire Club of Canada luncheon in downtown Toronto on Oct. 14.
- “Canada’s relationship with the United States has changed permanently,” Ford said. “We need to plan as if tariffs are here for good.”
- He predicted Trump could lose control of Congress in November’s midterms — and still argued businesses must stop assuming relief is coming.
- Ford called Trump’s reported move to buy Russian diesel “absolutely mind-boggling” and praised Prime Minister Mark Carney for walking away from bad trade deals: “No deal is better than a bad deal.”
- The Ford Tariffs backdrop: Trump’s Section 232 duties on steel, aluminum, autos and lumber, plus fresh 50% levies on an array of Canadian goods.
Ford Tariffs Could Outlast Trump, Premier Warns
Doug Ford is the latest Canadian official to warn that U.S. trade protectionism may last well beyond Donald Trump’s presidency, regardless of who wins the White House in 2028. Framed that way, the Ford Tariffs question is no longer “when will they end” but “how do we live with them.” Speaking at the Empire Club of Canada on Wednesday, Ford told the luncheon crowd that Canadians must prepare for tariffs to remain indefinitely.
“Canada’s relationship with the United States has changed permanently. We can no longer depend on what has been the most durable, prosperous and secure economic partnership the world has ever known,” Ford said, according to Transport Topics’ coverage of the speech.
“Plan as if Tariffs Are Here for Good”
The core of Ford’s message was blunt: “We need to be prepared for the long haul. We need to plan as if tariffs are here for good. We need to ensure that Canada’s future is in Canadian hands, now and always.”
It is the first time Ontario’s premier has publicly framed American protectionism as a possibly permanent condition rather than a Trump-era episode to ride out — the defining shift of the Ford Tariffs debate. Even as he predicted Trump could lose the Senate and the House in November’s midterms — telling the room the Republicans would then “pull the carpet out from underneath him” — Ford insisted that possibility is no planning basis. “We need to continue building relationships because President Trump is not going to last forever,” he added.
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What Ontario Is Up Against
The stakes are highest in Ford’s own province. Ontario is Canada’s export engine and its most tariff-exposed province, and Trump’s duties have hammered the industries that have long depended on U.S. market access: steel, aluminum, autos and lumber under Section 232, with the U.S. recently adding 50% levies on an array of Canadian goods and slapping import bans on a small range of products, including some alcoholic beverages.
Ford has not been shy about retaliation. He has pushed “dollar-for-dollar” counter-tariffs and sometimes sparred with Trump in colourful language. The message on Wednesday was different, though — less about hitting back and more about a sober strategic shift: plan both ways. It is the clearest sign yet that the Ford Tariffs era is changing how Queen’s Park plans the economy, not just how it talks about Trump.
Why This Speech Matters
Ford is not alone in the warning. Federal Industry Minister Mélanie Joly has separately said there is bipartisan support in the U.S. for the duties, and California Governor Gavin Newsom — a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate — told CTV News in August that he could not guarantee Democrats would lift the tariffs. With auto workers voting on strike authorization at Stellantis in Windsor this weekend and the fall Ontario budget debate approaching, that Ford Tariffs framing hands manufacturers, unions and municipalities a new baseline: assume the worst, build accordingly.
Maplestime will provide updates from Ontario’s tariff response and the Canada-U.S. trade dispute as announcements are made.
Have a tip about how tariffs are hitting Ontario businesses or workers? Email [email protected]
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Is Ford right that Canada should stop waiting Trump out and just build around the tariffs — or would that be waving the white flag before the fight is over? Tell us in the comments. And share this with every Canadian watching the trade war this week.
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