Donald Trump said he is rethinking his decision earlier today to double tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum imports, after Ontario’s premier Doug Ford canceled a 25% surcharge on electricity exports to three US states.

“I’m looking at that, but probably so,” Trump responded, when asked if he was rethinking his decision to raise tariffs on Canadian metals to 50%. He added that Ford is “a gentleman”, then pivoted to arguing that Canada should become America’s 51st state.

Trump was speaking outside the White House with Elon Musk and one of his sons, along with some Teslas that the president said he just bought.

Ontario will suspend its 25% surcharge on exports of electricity to three US states after top American trade officials agreed to negotiate with the Canadian province in Washington DC later this week.

The end of the surcharge, which prompted Donald Trump to double his administration’s tariffs on Canadian metal imports and threaten even harsher measures, was announced in a joint statement from Ontario premier Doug Ford, and US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick. Ford imposed the tax last week, in retaliation for 25% tariffs Trump levied on Canadian goods, which the White House later relaxed.

Here is the statement, in full:

Today, United States Secretary of Commerce @howardlutnick and Premier of Ontario Doug Ford had a productive conversation about the economic relationship between the United States and Canada.

Secretary Lutnick agreed to officially meet with Premier Ford in Washington on Thursday, March 13 alongside the United States Trade Representative to discuss a renewed USMCA ahead of the April 2 reciprocal tariff deadline. In response, Ontario agreed to suspend its 25 per cent surcharge on exports of electricity to Michigan, New York and Minnesota.

A bill to fund the government through September and prevent a shutdown from starting after Friday has cleared a key vote in the House.

The Republican-controlled chamber voted 216 to 213 to begin debate on the continuing resolution, which authorizes spending for the remainder of the fiscal year. All Democrats opposed the measure, while the sole GOP defector was Thomas Massie, who has attracted the ire of Donald Trump for bucking Republican leadership.

The continuing resolution is expected to have a final vote on passage later today, and it remains to be seen if any further Republican defections will emerge.

Ukraine has agreed to accept a US proposal for an immediate 30-day ceasefire and to take steps toward restoring a durable peace after Russia’s invasion, according to a joint statement by American and Ukrainian delegations meeting in Saudi Arabia.

Washington has also announced that it will immediately restart security assistance and intelligence sharing.

We have a live blog covering this breaking story, and you can follow it here:

Canada’s prime minister-designate Mark Carney said he would not lift retaliatory tariffs on American good until Washington does the same.

In a brief post on X, Carney, a former central banker who won the race to lead the federal Liberal party on Sunday, said:

President Trump’s latest tariffs are an attack on Canadian workers, families, and businesses. My government will ensure our response has maximum impact in the US and minimal impact here in Canada, while supporting the workers impacted.

My government will keep our tariffs on until the Americans show us respect and make credible, reliable commitments to free and fair trade.

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt is defending Donald Trump’s decision to further tighten tariffs on Canada, despite widespread economic jitters on Wall Street that are fueling yet another sell-off in today’s ongoing trading.

Pointing to investment announcements Trump has made since and decent economic data, including last week’s jobs report, Leavitt said: “The American people, CEOs and people on Wall Street and on Main Street should bet on this president. He is a deal maker. He is a businessman, and he’s doing what’s right for our country. He wants to restore wealth to the United States of America.”

She also signaled that further measures could taken against Ontario, if the Canadian province’s premier Doug Ford makes good on threats to cut off electricity supplies to three US states:

The president has made it very clear that Canada would be very wise not to shut off electricity for the American people, and we hope that that does not happen. As for what would happen if that does take place, I’ll leave it to the president to make those decisions.

The deputy national director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (Cair), Edward Ahmed Mitchell, has condemned the “unconstitutional” targeting of Mahmoud Khalil, the Palestinian student who was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), adding that it was the “culmination of the abuses that have occurred over the past year” to advocates of Palestinian human rights and American Muslims.

Mitchell made the statement before Cair, a Muslim advocacy organisation, released its annual report on the state of Muslim civil rights in America. “This madness must end,” said Mitchell.

Nihad Awad, the national executive director of CAIR, spoke after Mitchell and said the 2025 report, titled Unconstitutional Crackdowns, documented the highest number of complaints ever received by the organisation, with 8,658 cases in its 30-year history. “This historic level of the rise in Islamophobia is alarming,” said Awad. He noted that the majority of complaints came from Muslims who said they had expressed their views on Israel’s actions in Gaza and the West Bank.

Donald Trump has further roiled already tumultuous stock markets by declaring that he will double tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum imports and take even more drastic measures if the United States’s norther neighbor does not back down in the trade war he started. There’s no sign of that yet happening, with Ontario’s premier Doug Ford, whose imposition of a 25% surcharge on electricity exports to three US state enraged Trump, saying “Canada will not back down until President Trump’s tariffs are gone for good.” Meanwhile, Elon Musk mused about the need to “eliminate” spending on federal entitlements like Social Security and Medicare, prompting a cleanup effort from the GOP and attacks from Democrats.

Here’s what else has been going on today:

• House Republicans are teeing up a vote this afternoon on legislation to keep the government funded through September and prevent a shutdown from happening on Friday. Whether their measure has the support to succeed is unknown.

• Democrats have issues, particularly when it comes to their support among voters in battleground House districts, new polling obtained by Politico finds.

• JD Vance is on Capitol Hill as Republicans wrangle votes for their must-pass spending bill.

At a press conference earlier today, Republican speaker of the House Mike Johnson sought to turn up the heat on Democrats who are poised to vote against his party’s bill to keep the government funded through the end of September.

The Democratic opposition to the continuing resolution (CR) that will head off a shutdown beginning Friday means the GOP will have to rely solely on its own members to get the bill through the chamber. One lawmaker, Thomas Massie, has already said he’ll vote no, and it still remains unclear if the Republicans have the votes they need.

“Here’s the bottom line. If Congressional Democrats refuse to support this clean CR, they will be responsible for every troop who misses a paycheck, for every flight delay from reduced staffing at TSA, and for every negative consequence that comes from shutting down the government,” Johnson told reporters.

The speaker continued:

You will see one team that is working to fund the government and make sure we do the responsible thing. And you’re going to see another opposing a CR because they’ve now exposed the truth. They’re not for federal workers; they’re not for anyone. All the people they’ve said in the past that are going to be harmed, would be by their votes.

They’re using federal employees as props. They’re using Medicaid benefits and social security checks as cudgels. The threat of government shutdown they’re using as some sort of attempt to wrestle power away from the president of the United States who overwhelmingly won the popular vote, the electoral college in every single swing state.

Elon Musk last night mused about his desire to “eliminate” spending on federal entitlements such as social security and Medicare, prompting an effort by Republicans to downplay the possibility of cuts to the popular benefit programs.

The White House said that Musk was merely referring to “waste and fraud” in the programs, echoing a similar contention GOP lawmakers have made after proposing major cuts to Medicaid, another popular federal program that provides health insurance to poor and disabled Americans.

“The Trump Administration will not cut Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid benefits,” the White House said.

Republican congressman Mark Alford, joined the effort, telling CNN:

Look, Elon Musk is a brainiac with an IQ that I cannot even fathom. He is not a master of artful language person, like politicians and news anchors. I think when he talks about elimination, I think we’re talking about eliminating the waste, abuse and fraud. And it is true that the Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security make up about 75% of our budget. It’s mandatory spending. We’ve got to find the savings there. We will do that … we are not going to eliminate Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.