Begun The Trade War Has

Ontario Premier Doug Ford

Ontario Provincial premier Doug Ford – brother to former Toronto mayor and infamous crackhead Rob – has implemented a series of taxes and duties on goods bound for and coming from the US.

He announced the imposition of a 25% export tax on electrical power deliveries to 1.5 million homes in Minnesota, Michigan and New York in retaliation for U.S. tariffs. He also directed Ontario energy producers to shut down the exports entirely if President Trump moves ahead with more tariffs on April 2.

If I didn’t know better, I’d say Doug found Rob’s stash and was partaking. Let me break it down a bit.

Economically speaking, the state of New York, my home state incidentally, has a larger economy than the entire country of Canada; $2.284 trillion to $2.12 trillion as of last year.

The Province of Ontario made up some $880 billion of that total last year. That makes Ontario the #7 province in Canada GDP wise. It would land them in a similar spot in the US, nestled between Ohio at $922b and Georgia at $877b.

Sounds good right? Not so fast. If you look at per capita GDP, ~$50,000, Ontario would be the poorest state, landing just after Mississippi $53,000.

For reference, the US GDP is some $27 trillion.

What’s my point? Simple, the frost Mexicans can’t afford to enter into this trade war. Some 75% of all of Ontario’s GDP is wrapped up with the US. Meanwhile, that trade accounts for less than 7% of all US trade.

So while my electric bill might go up a bit, some poor hoser in Cornwall or York or Windsor is going to get laid off if not outright fired.