(Hill) – The Ontario government applies an additional 25% charge for electricity exports to three US provinces in response to US tariffs in Canada.
The additional charge will affect the electricity sales of 1.5 million homes and businesses in Michigan, Minnesota and New York, the Ontario government said. In total, it costs up to $400,000 per day.
A statement from the Ontario Prime Minister’s office has introduced new market rules that require Canadian electricity sellers to add $10 per megawatt hour extra charge, which is equivalent to the cost of selling electricity, which is equivalent to a quarter of the average electricity value.
The additional charge is the response to a 25% tariff on Canadian and Mexican imports into the United States announced last week by the Trump administration.
Stock markets fell again on Monday as investors worry about the growth of the trade war. The Dow Jones average was above 550 points (over 1.3%) just after noon Monday.
Trump took several steps to ease his Teff’s blow.
Following the initial announcement, Trump exempts the carmaker from tariffs and has since been delayed for a month due to products covered by the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the latest news on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which Trump renegotiated during his first term.
Stephen Lecke, Minister of Energy and Electrification, said: “In an age where prices for US, Canada and the US families are rising, we need to work together to strengthen trade and investment relations.”
The US is Canada’s only trading partner, and the Canada and the US electric grid are highly integrated. In 2023, net electricity exports from Canada to the US were 27.6 terawatt hours, coming mainly from Manitoba, Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec.
A regulatory order from the Ontario Executive Council says the US ignores the rule of law by imposing tariffs on Canada. Following the doubling of US tariffs on China, similar claims have been made by China regarding the rules of the World Trade Organization.
The regulations also state that “tariffs pose existential threats to hundreds of thousands of jobs and all sectors of the Ontario economy.”
