U.S. proposed tariffs from could cost up to 500,000 Ontario jobs, Doug Ford says

Ontario Premier Doug Ford says provincial officials estimate that U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs on Canadian goods could cost up to half a million jobs.

Trump has said he would sign an executive order imposing a 25 per cent tariff on all products arriving in the United States from Canada and Mexico on his first day back in office.

Ford says the actual number of Ontario jobs affected by the tariffs will depend on what sectors are targeted, but the ministries have told him it could be between 450,000 to 500,000.

The premier has also said he may need to spend tens of billions of dollars in response to the effects of the tariffs in Ontario, and has suggested he is thinking about calling an early election in order to put that type of stimulus spending to voters.

He did not give an indication of what timing he may have in mind, but did say he believes Trump may try to “slow roll” the tariffs.

All 13 premiers are set to meet Wednesday with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Ford says the federal government needs to “get their act together” to finalize a plan of how to respond to the tariffs.