Did Canada plan to stop sending energy to the United States in February 2025 because of President Donald Trump's tariffs? No, that's not true: After a call between the two leaders on February 3, 2025, both Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Trump said separately that tariffs were delayed for 30 days. As of this publication, Canada did not say it would halt energy supplies to the U.S. in response to the Trump administration's planned 25 percent tariff on Canadian goods. Instead, Canada had announced a CA$155 billion (US$106 billion) tariff package on American products to fight what some called "unjustified U.S. tariffs." Energy exports would not be affected.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on Threads on January 26, 2025. The post's caption said:
BREAKING: Canada is planning to fight back against Trump's tariffs by cutting off all energy supplies to the U.S. in February.
Last year, the United States imported 38.9 million megawatt hours of electricity, according to the US Energy Information Administration. The vast majority of that - 33.2 million megawatt hours - came from Canada.
This is what the post looked like on Threads at the time of writing:
(Source: Threads screenshot taken on Mon Feb 3 15:40:51 2025 UTC)
This post provided no evidence to support the assertion that Canada was cutting office energy exports to the United States.
Department of Finance Canada
In a February 1, 2025, news release, the Department of Finance Canada (archived here) announced the government's tariff package. The statement said:
Today, the Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Finance and Intergovernmental Affairs, and the Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, announced that the Government of Canada is moving forward with 25 per cent tariffs on $155 billion worth of goods in response to the unjustified and unreasonable tariffs imposed by the United States (U.S.) on Canadian goods.
These countermeasures have one goal: to protect and defend Canada's interests, consumers, workers, and businesses.
The release says Canada would put tariffs on $30 billion worth of U.S. goods (archived here) starting February 4, 2025, to protect its economy. The list includes products like orange juice, peanut butter, beer, clothes, and motorcycles. More tariffs on another $125 billion of U.S. goods are planned, which would hit cars, trucks, steel, aluminum, some fruits and veggies, airplanes, beef, pork, dairy, buses, RVs, and boats, following a 21-day public comment period. Energy exports were not included on either list.
The Canadian response came on the same day Trump signed an executive order (archived here) imposing tariffs on most imports from America's northern neighbor, as well as Mexico and China. Trump said on social media (archived here) that he was taking the tariff actions to stop illegal drugs and immigrants from crossing the U.S. borders.
Tariffs on hold
But on Monday, February 3, 2025, Trump said he agreed to pause tariffs on Canada and Mexico for 30 days after speaking with leaders of the two countries.
Following a phone call with Trump on February 3, 2025, Trudeau announced on social media (archived here) that "Proposed tariffs will be paused for at least 30 days." This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Mon Feb 3 22:27:03 2025 UTC)
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