Premier Doug Ford didn't hold back his frustration with United States President Donald Trump's decision to re-impose tariffs on some Canadian aluminum, calling the move "unacceptable" and accusing the American leader of backstabbing Canadians.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland called the U.S. administration's decision to place a 10 per cent tariff on aluminum "absurd" and announced Friday morning that the Canadian government would be willing to slap $3.6 billion in retaliatory tariffs on "aluminum-containing products" from the U.S.

"It's just unacceptable what President Trump did," said Ford at Queen's Park on Friday morning. "We’re their closest allies, we're supposed to be, you know, part of the big family and he comes and backstabs us like this? Unacceptable.

"Who does this, in times like this, who tries to go after your closest ally, your closest trading partner, your number one customer in the entire world?" said Ford, adding that he had a conversation with Freeland on Friday morning and encouraged the her to "put retaliatory tariffs on as many goods as possible."

Referring to his time as a businessman, Ford took a business lens to the U.S. administration's decision and talked about how he didn't think it made sense.

"I would never go after my number one customer and slap them in the face like President Trump did to the Canadian public and Ontario," said Ford, adding that his message to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer was "we're coming out swinging like you've never seen before."

Ford used the opportunity to plead with Ontarians to buy products made in Canada and for manufacturers to use the "Ontario made" logo on products.

"As individuals, we can't put tariffs on. But what we can do, we can hit them where it hurts and where it hurts is we’re their number one trading partner," said Ford. "Buy Ontario made, buy Canadian made."

Speaking to media following Ford's press conference, Freeland thanked the Ontario premier and other provincial leaders for defending Canada's "national interest."

In the midst of a pandemic that has devastated economies around the globe, Freeland said a trade dispute is the "last thing that anyone needs" and would only hurt economic recovery in both Canada and the U.S.

She refuted any claims that Canadian aluminum poses a national security threat to the United States and noted the importance of it to Canada's southern neighbour, including to its defence industry. Freeland touched on the irony of Trump announcing the new tariffs at a Whirlpool Corp. manufacturing plant, arguing that washing machines made at the facility, for example, will become more expensive for American consumers as a result of the tariffs.

Steel and aluminum disproportionately affects Ontario in part because of the economic role the auto sector plays in the province. The government noted that $2.6 billion of aluminum and aluminum products were exported from the province in 2019, with 94 per cent of that going to the U.S. Imports, meanwhile, totalled $3.3 billion, with 72 per cent of that coming from the U.S.

Freeland pointed to the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), which came into force on July 1 and replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement, noting that in order for vehicles to avoid tariffs, 70 per cent of the aluminum used by North American automakers needs to be produced within the continent.

"These tariffs will make it harder for the North American car makers (CUSMA) is designed to support," she said.

To fight against the tariffs, Freeland said Canada would respond by imposing its own "dollar-for-dollar counter measures," adding that they would be "perfectly reciprocal."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, she said, decided to launch a 30-day consultation to seek input from Canadians on a broad list of aluminum products that could see retaliatory tariffs placed on them. But Freeland added that she hoped the U.S. would reconsider the decision before the U.S. tariffs take effect next week.

Speaking at the home appliances manufacturing plant in Ohio on Aug. 6, Trump promised to "bring back American jobs in factories using every tool at my disposal, including tariffs." As part of this, he signed a proclamation earlier in the day that would re-impose aluminum tariffs on Canadian aluminum.

"Canada was taking advantage of us, as usual, and I signed it," said Trump, adding that the aluminum sector "was being decimated by Canada."

He said his administration agreed to lift steel and aluminum tariffs last year "in return for a promise from the Canadian government that its aluminum industry would not flood our country with exports and kill all our aluminum jobs, which is exactly what they did.

"Canadian aluminum producers have broken that commitment, and the U.S. Trade Representative, Robert Lighthizer, has advised me that this step to re-impose tariffs is absolutely necessary to defend our aluminum industry."

In the Aug. 6 proclamation that claimed a threat to national security, Trump wrote that the 10 per cent tariff would apply to imports of "non-alloyed unwrought aluminum" from Canada starting on Aug. 16. He noted that imports of this type of aluminum, which accounts for 59 per cent of the aluminum coming in from Canada between June 2019 and May 2020, increased 87 per cent during that period.

After the U.S. slapped tariffs of 25 per cent and 10 per cent on Canadian steel and aluminum products, respectively, in 2018, Canada shot back with tariffs of its own on not only American steel and aluminum, but also other products such as bourbon. The tariffs were initially put in place under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, which allows the president to use measures such as tariffs or quotas to adjust imports considered to harm national security.

Premier Ford rallied with other provincial and federal leaders when the tariffs were imposed, lobbying U.S. governors and officials in Washington, D.C. in February 2019 and urging them to put pressure on Trump to lift the duties. It marked a change in tone from critiques made by the Ford government over the federal government's handling of certain issues, including some provisions of CUSMA. Ford said while on the trip that he made one thing clear on the tariffs during a meeting with Lighthizer: "I stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our federal government, and we won’t waver on that."

Several U.S. governors also spoke out against the tariffs at the time, with Matt Bevin, who was then the Republican governor of Kentucky in February 2019, saying during a business-centred event at the time that both countries stood to lose if the tariff issue wasn't resolved.

"There has been (an) effect, no question," Bevin told QP Briefing at the time. "Our 232 ruling was designed to have effect on certain metal producers in Canada... as were these retaliatory tariffs intended to have an effect on people who produce bourbon and toilet paper and ketchup and yoghurt."

"Is it causing businesses to go out of business? No, it’s not," Bevin said. "Is it causing disruption in their short-term cash flow and business decisions, it is."

After Trump's announcement on a new set of tariffs, several industry groups on both sides of the border slammed the decision including the Aluminium Association of Canada and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

"Today more than ever, American businesses of all sizes depend on trade as an engine of growth and job creation. However, the administration’s move to re-impose tariffs on aluminum from Canada is a step in the wrong direction," the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said in a statement. "These tariffs will raise costs for American manufacturers, are opposed by most U.S. aluminum producers, and will draw retaliation against U.S. exports — just as they did before. We urge the administration to reconsider this move."

‘It’s just unacceptable what President Trump did,’ Ford says of U.S. decision to re-impose tariffs on Canadian aluminum

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