Ontario's premier says 'the walls are closing in' on Trump after Supreme Court tariff decision

TORONTO — The leader of Canada’s most populous province said Monday “the walls are closing in” on President Donald Trump after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down many of Trump’s tariffs and said he’s also looking forward to the U.S. midterm elections in November which could further constrain Trump.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Canada is in an “economic war” right now and said no deal is better than a bad deal with Trump.

“It’s very challenging right now. I just sit back some days, and I am not the only one. Everyone in the world sits back. How can one person, one man, create so much turmoil around the world? Not just here in Canada but around the world. It is pretty staggering. So I can’t wait for the midterms,” Ford said.

The court’s decision Friday struck down tariffs Trump had imposed on nearly every country in the world using an emergency powers law. Trump now says he will use a different, albeit more limited, legal authority.

“It was a positive message from the Supreme Court,” Ford said.

Most of Canada’s exports to the U.S. are covered by the United States-Mexico-Canada trade pact , or USMCA, but some tariffs are taking a toll on certain sectors of Canada’s economy, particularly aluminum, steel, autos and lumber.

Ford warned Trump could scrap the free trade deal that is under review this year.

Ford said other countries like Japan and the U.K. “rushed in to get a deal and all of a sudden, he turned on them like a rattle snake. We’re going to be cautious.”

Ford noted many Republican seats will be up for grabs in November’s elections for control of the House and the Senate, including a number of them next door in Michigan.

The premier also noted the House voted earlier this month to slap back Trump’s tariffs on Canada, a rare if largely symbolic rebuke of the White House agenda as Republicans joined Democrats over the objections of GOP leadership. The resolution seeks to end the national emergency Trump declared to impose the tariffs, though actually undoing the policy would require support from the president, which is highly unlikely. It next goes to the Senate.

“The walls are closing in on President Trump,” Ford said. “You saw him lose the vote and six Republicans crossed the floor with Congress and then you saw the Supreme Court.”

Ford said the tariffs are causing inflation.

“Down in the U.S. people are feeling the crunch. They don’t see the prices going down with food and other goods. That all has come down to the uncertainty that he’s put around the world and his number one customer in the world,” Ford said.

Trump recently threatened to impose a 100% tariff on goods imported from Canada over that country’s proposed China trade deal, intensifying a feud with the longtime U.S. ally and its Prime Minister Mark Carney.