March 6, 2025
President Trump has just signed two executive orders – officially backing down from his 25% tariffs against both Canada and Mexico – again. But this action may not save some Americans from increased electricity costs.
I know there’s so much back and forth with all of this. But just a few moments ago, President Trump signed two executive orders putting a pause on the 25% tariffs he imposed on Tuesday on goods coming into the United States from Mexico and Canada. He now says as long as the products comply with USMCA they will not be slapped with those tariffs. The USMCA – by the way is the trade deal that Trump himself negotiated with Canada and Mexico during his first term and that’s the deal that’s been in place for North American trade since 2020. The White House says trump’s reciprocal tariffs will still go into effect on April second and the steel and aluminum tariffs are still on track for next week.
So you’re probably thinking – what the hell is going on? What is all this back and forth. Well – here’s what we know. This is now the second time President Trump has backed down from his tariff threats on Canada and Mexico. He delayed last month too. Coincidentally he made “last minute deals” with Canada and Mexico to pause his tariffs after the stock market tanked. Well, the fact is on Monday of this week the day before these 25% tariffs were supposed to take effect, the US stock market tanked. On Tuesday the day they took effect, the stocks tanked again. Yesterday – when trump said US automakers would get an exemption from the tariffs the market rebounded. Today – the market ended the day down more than 400 points almost wiping out yesterday’s gains. At one point the market was down much more than 400 points. While we know president Trump closely monitors the stock market when asked today, he denied that he’s delaying these tariffs because of what’s happening with the market.
But backing off the 25% tariffs now doesn’t seem to be good enough for the Canadians. Before President Trump backed down this afternoon the premier of Ontario Canada announced that starting Monday he will charge 25% more for the electricity Ontario provides to several states in this country. In case you didn’t know – Ontario provides power to about 1.5 million homes and businesses in Minnesota, Michigan and New York. That means if you live in one of those homes or have one of those businesses – your bills will go up by at least 25%. The Ontario premiere he will impose this rate hike even if Trump backs down. We’ll see if he changes his mind now – but it doesn’t seem like it.
Trump again today acknowledged that these tariffs are going to cost you.
Watch President Trump talk about this change here.
