Canada tried this electricity stunt before and backed down in 48 hours.
Now Doug Ford is threatening something that actually keeps Americans alive.
And Canadian Premier Doug Ford just threatened to cut the United States off from the minerals that are used to build American missiles.
Ford Tells Trump He Will Cut Off US Military Supply Chains
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Monday that everything is on the table – and he meant it literally.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Ford threatened to cut off high-grade nickel and uranium refined in Ontario, the same materials Pentagon planners have identified as essential to weapons manufacturing – missiles, munitions, and battlefield electronics.
"I'll cut them off," Ford said. "You won't get a grain of sand out of Ontario."
This is not posturing about beer or cheese tariffs.
https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2091952318895776127?s=20
The Pentagon has been spending billions of dollars trying to reduce dependence on China for these exact materials.
Defense planners have warned that shortages in specialty metals could halt American weapons production within 30 to 90 days of a complete supply cutoff.
Canada supplies more than half the minerals on the US critical materials list.
The Electricity Bluff That Already Failed
Ford has made this move before – and got rolled.
Earlier this year, Ontario imposed a 25% surcharge on electricity exported to Michigan, Minnesota, and New York, powering roughly 1.5 million homes and businesses.
Trump threatened to declare a national emergency on electricity and announced additional tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum within hours.
Ford suspended the surcharge within 24 hours, after a phone call with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
The electricity threat sounds scary – and Ford knows it sounds scary – which is exactly why he used it the first time and why he is reaching for something bigger this time.
Electricity flows can be rerouted.
High-grade nickel and uranium refined in Ontario cannot be replaced in 48 hours.
Ford Is Using Reagan as a Shield While Doing the Opposite
Ford invoked Ronald Reagan twice in Monday's interview.
"He'd be throwing up on him from the picture if he knew what was going on," Ford said of Reagan, "spinning around in his grave right now."
https://twitter.com/clashreport/status/2091953813976424818?s=20
This is the same Doug Ford who paid for American television advertisements featuring Reagan's own words to pressure Trump into dropping tariffs.
Trump ended negotiations over those ads.
Ford agreed to pull the campaign so talks could resume.
Reagan did oppose tariffs.
Reagan also believed that threatening to disarm your closest ally's weapons production was not a negotiating tactic – it was an act of economic war.
Ford is not channeling Reagan.
Ford is hiding behind Reagan while doing exactly what Reagan warned adversaries never to do: threaten American military readiness.
What Trump Is Actually Doing
Ford accused Trump of wanting to hollow out Canadian industry and turn Canada into a vassal state.
"He wants to bleed out every single sector and bring them down to the U.S.," Ford said.
Trump announced Monday that new 50% tariffs on Canadian automobiles, auto parts, and steel would begin next year.
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney walked away from trade negotiations Friday after the White House demanded language that would restrict Canada's ability to sign trade deals with other countries without American approval.
Carney announced dollar-for-dollar retaliation beginning September 8.
Ford said he opposed even the preliminary deal Carney had been considering, and was prepared to hold a press conference to publicly break with it.
"I wasn't going to put the booze back on the shelves," Ford said of American liquor that Ontario had pulled from store shelves as leverage.
Canada has never cracked in a trade war without the United States giving something back first.
The 2018 steel and aluminum dispute ended only when the United States, Mexico, and Canada reached a new continental trade deal – on American terms.
Ford knows that history.
He also knows that threatening to cut off missile components is the kind of escalation that ends careers when it fails – and it will fail, because Trump has already shown he will hit back twice as hard before breakfast.
The minerals threat is louder because Ford has less left to threaten with.
Sources:
- Staff, "Ontario's premier: Canada should be ready to cut electricity, critical minerals as trade woes worsen," Associated Press, August 24, 2026.
- Staff, "Ontario suspends levy on US-bound electricity as Ford set to meet with Trump official," CBC News, March 12, 2025.
- Staff, "Ontario's Doug Ford slaps 25% surcharge on US electricity exports — and Trump strikes back," Yahoo News, 2025.
- Staff, "Why critical minerals are a bargaining chip in the Canada-U.S. trade war," CBC News, March 6, 2025.
- Staff, "13 Critical Minerals Defense Strategy Reshaping Military Supply Chains," Discovery Alert, March 5, 2026.
- Staff, "Canada is quietly building the trusted minerals base the Pentagon needs," The Hill, October 24, 2025.