'You just don't roll over:' Doug Ford refuses to take energy threat off table as he pitches closer mineral relationship with U.S.

Premier Doug Ford is proposing a closer relationship with the U.S. when it comes to critical minerals while at the same time boasting that the province won’t 'roll over' should president-elect Donald Trump follow through on his threatened tariffs upon taking office next week.

Premier Doug Ford is proposing a closer relationship with the U.S. when it comes to critical minerals while at the same time boasting that the province won’t “roll over” should president-elect Donald Trump follow through on his threatened tariffs upon taking office next week.

Ford made the comment during a news conference at the Royal Ontario Museum on Monday where he discussed a plan to create a new Am-Can Critical Mineral Security Alliance that would “help to build out American and Canadian critical mineral supply chains,” in part, by reducing red tape in resource-rich areas like Ontario’s Ring of Fire region.

The alliance is the latest in a series of announcement geared towards strengthening the U.S.-Ontario trade relationship as part of Ford’s “Fortress Am-Can” pitch.

But the premier told reporters on Monday that he isn’t taking retaliatory actions off the table and has a “list” of measures prepared should Trump impose a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian goods as promised.

Ford has previously suggested that Ontario could cut off the electricity it supplies to approximately 1.5 million homes in New York, Michigan and Minnesota in response to tariffs.

“When our country is under attack economically, when our province is under attack economically you just don’t roll over,” Ford said when asked specifically about the energy threat.

“Maybe I come from a different school but I believe in negotiating through strength not weakness.”