An important update to the 2025 trade war comes from this CBC interview with Ontario’s representative in Washington, D.C., David Paterson. He was at Premier Doug Ford’s and Howard Lutnick’s meeting March 13th meeting provoked by Ford threatening to add a 25% surcharge to energy exports to three northern US states across the Ontario border. It was considered a controversial escalation, and one may criticize all they like over trade war theatrics; it did catch the Trump administration’s attention and secured a fruitful meeting with Lutnick and other Trump advisors. All said and done, it gives Canadians firmer footing on what has been weeks of shaky geo-political ground.

Paterson, as I am sure is his duty, was very informative. It was the necessary download fleshing out and confirming suspected motivations that until now lacked explicit confirmation. The forever diplomat, he recounts the Trump admins plans for their restructuring of global trade. Like it or not, he conveys, these are the intentions and this is the why. Make of it what you will

The interview would probably hold some interest to Americans following the trade war or anyone who is wondering what the hell is going on with all these tariffs. While being delivered through a Canadian news vehicle, the information presented will help Americans feeling their way through the chaos surrounding the issue, shedding more light on what exactly the U.S.A is doing and why. For Canadians it is the information necessary to devise a strategy going forward.

What we know bottomline is tariffs will be coming Apr 2nd, and the US will be a tariffing country across the board period. There has been some consideration given to the aftermath. I would say it is debatable how well thought out that is but only time will tell. What I learned from Paterson makes me think the 25% surcharge threat made by Ford, garnering this near immediate call for a sit down, was a win. I believe this is why Ford was so positive post-meeting, labelling it as constructive and indeed it was. They were not stonewalled as people feared but got a clear explanation on what exactly is going on. What has been learned does not necessarily solve the problem; big risks are being taken here, but it helps give us clarity on what exactly we are dealing with.