Before you read: A paid subscription is $8 a month or $50 a year. If you want me to keep following where this escalation goes next, please become a paid subscriber.
by Sharad Swaney
Dear Room,
The man running Ontario just told the United States to keep batteries nearby.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford says his province could raise the price of electricity flowing across the border or stop sending it altogether if Donald Trump keeps escalating his trade war with Canada.
His warning to Trump was six words.
“He better have a pack of batteries.”
Ontario has not cut off the power. I want to make that clear immediately.
But electricity is now officially on the table.
The switch.
Ontario’s electrical grid connects directly with Michigan, Minnesota, and New York. The province says its exports provide enough electricity to power roughly 1.5 million American homes and businesses.
Ford told The Associated Press that Ontario could increase electricity prices or stop sending power south if Trump continues targeting Canadian industries.
“We power 1.5 million homes and businesses,” Ford said. “Everything’s on the table. I’ll do whatever it takes.”
That does not mean 1.5 million buildings would instantly go dark. The American grid has other sources, and electricity moves through a complicated network.
It does mean replacing that supply could become difficult and expensive, especially during periods of extreme heat or heavy demand.
Before I explain how we reached the point where America’s closest ally is discussing the power switch, please subscribe. This story is moving quickly, and the details matter.
The tariffs are already here.
On Saturday, the United States imposed 50 percent tariffs on approximately $20 billion in Canadian goods.
More than 550 products are covered, including alcohol, cement, hockey equipment, furniture, electronics, cosmetics, toys, and household goods.
Trump used Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930, a Great Depression-era provision that had never been used this way before.
Then he escalated again.
Trump announced that Canadian vehicles, automotive parts, and steel would face 50 percent tariffs beginning January 1, 2027. Prime Minister Mark Carney said the American demands would gradually dismantle Canada’s automobile industry.
Canada suspended negotiations on Friday. Its government has promised dollar-for-dollar counter-tariffs beginning September 8.
The argument has moved past beer, hockey sticks, and steel.
It has reached electricity.
Canada has done this before.
This is not an imaginary weapon Ford invented during an angry interview.
Ontario imposed a 25 percent surcharge on electricity exported to Michigan, Minnesota, and New York during an earlier round of Trump tariffs in March 2025.
Trump responded by threatening to double tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum. Ontario suspended the surcharge after negotiations resumed.
The machinery already exists. Ontario’s grid operator says the tariff charge remains available and can be changed again at the provincial government’s direction.
According to Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator, the province is physically connected to New York, Michigan, Minnesota, Quebec, and Manitoba.
The wires crossing the border do not care about campaign speeches. They carry power because two countries spent generations building one interconnected system.
That system is now leverage.
It is bigger than electricity.
Ford also threatened to restrict critical minerals, including high-grade nickel and uranium refined in Ontario.
Those materials are used in electronics, energy infrastructure, military aircraft, missiles, and munitions. Ford said the United States would not receive “a grain of sand” from Ontario if he decided to stop the shipments.
He called for Canada to consider oil and potash next.
This is the point where a tariff fight becomes something more dangerous. Every dependency becomes a weapon. Cars. Steel. Electricity. Minerals. Oil.
The list keeps growing because neither side wants to be the first one to step back.
Why I am asking.
I keep returning to the batteries line because it sounds ridiculous until you understand what sits behind it.
There are actual transmission lines carrying Canadian electricity into American communities tonight. There are government rules already written for charging more money on that electricity. There is a premier saying he is willing to use them.
This is the work I try to do here. I take a screaming trade-war headline and find the wires underneath it.
A paid subscription is $8 a month or $50 a year. No PAC money. No corporate sponsors. No dark donors. Just readers who decided this kind of reporting was worth fifty bucks.
If you want me to keep following where this escalation goes next, please become a paid subscriber.
Become a paid subscriber to my personal Substack →
If you want to support this work or donate without a subscription, you can chip in directly through Venmo at @sharadswaney or you can buy me a coffee. Every bit genuinely helps keep the reporting going.
The quiet part.
Canada probably does not want to cut off American electricity. Americans do not want Canadian factories destroyed. Workers on both sides did not ask for any of this.
That is what makes the threat so frightening.
The United States and Canada built their economies around the assumption that neither country would treat the other as an enemy. Trump broke that assumption, and now every shared system can be turned into a pressure point.
The power grid used to be evidence that the alliance worked.
Now both countries are looking at the same wires and seeing a weapon.
Please restack this post. Most Americans have no idea that a trade war could reach the electricity entering their homes, and they deserve to know how far this has gone.
Thank you for being in this room.
- Sharad
Become a paid subscriber to my personal Substack →
If you want to support this work or donate without a subscription, you can chip in directly through Venmo at @sharadswaney or you can buy me a coffee. Every bit genuinely helps keep the reporting going.
A note for the room: I am 20 years old, running a nonprofit and this publication on my own. I work with research and editing tools, including Claude, an AI assistant, to keep up, the way other reporters work with editors and fact-checkers. Every quote and every source in this post was verified by me before anything went live. Other people will not tell you this, but I really care about journalistic integrity. Letting you know I use these tools to help me do this work all on my own is important to me. The room means trust, and trust means I tell you how the work gets made.
No posts
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.