The Premier of Ontario, Canada’s largest province in terms of GDP, announced at a press conference March 4 that the province had canceled its contract with Starlink, the satellite communications company owned by Elon Musk, removed all U.S. drinks products from sale by the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO), the government-run retailer and wholesaler of alcohol in Ontario, and banned all U.S. companies from bidding for government procurement contracts in the province, effective immediately. 

The measures are retaliation for U.S. President Donald Trump imposing across-the-board 25% tariffs on Canadian imports, and a 10% tariff on Canadian energy, both of which came into effect March 4. "This is not the outcome we wanted," said Doug Ford, who was reelected as Premier February 27. "We have no choice; we have to respond."

Ford reiterated threats to cut off Canada’s energy supply from the United States and add a 25% surcharge on all critical minerals and power, as soon as April, if the trade war was not resolved. "We're going to inflict as much pain as we can until we come to an agreement," he said.

He also urged all retailers to put Canadian and American flag decals on all products on store shelves, and said he would introduce legislation to mandate that they do so if they didn't alert consumers so they could buy Canadian, and avoid U.S.-made products.

Outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on March 3 also announced a 25% levy on C$30 billion ($20.65 billion) worth of U.S. imports, effective immediately, with a further tranche of tariffs on another C$125 billion in U.S. goods to take effect in 21 days. At a press conference March 4, Trudeau said Trump had said he wanted to see "a total collapse of the Canadian economy, because that will make it easier to annex us."

Ford had a message for Trump: "You under-estimate Canadians, you're making a massive mistake." At the same time, he acknowledged that the developing trade war with the country's southern neighbor would have negative effects on Canadian consumers and workers, most particularly those affected by the Canada-US Auto Pact's updated version that includes Mexico in an integrated, free-trade market for auto manufacturing. "We need to be ready to dig in for a long fight," Ford said.

LCBO's home web page had a notice March 4 reading: "Our site is temporarily unavailable while we remove U.S. products in response to U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods. Our in-store customer service remains unaffected."

“If they want to try to annihilate Ontario, I will do everything – including cut off their energy, with a smile on my face,” Doug Ford said at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada conference in Toronto on March 3, the day before the tariffs came into force. “They need to feel the pain. They want to come at us? We've got to go back twice as hard," Ford said.

Canada is the largest source of energy imports for the U.S., with crude oil and other petroleum products topping the list of imports. But hydropower, natural gas and electricity are also among the imports, according toThe Independent. Ford said at the March 4 press conference that any decision to cut off energy and fuel exports had to be made at the federal level.

Premier of Quebec François Legault said in February that he agreed with Ford about implementing retaliatory energy measures on the U.S. if Trump were to impose tariffs. He reiterated that point on March 3, saying he would respond in retaliation with Hydro-Quebec, the largest supplier of hydropower in Canada, which also exports power to the northeast U.S. Legault said there would be “more details” on March 4 about retaliatory efforts.