(Bloomberg) -- The Canadian province of Ontario is keeping its contract with Elon Musk’s Starlink for the moment, despite President Donald Trump’s moves to put new tariffs on US trading partners.
But canceling the deal “continues to be a tool in our toolbox if we need it,” Ivana Yelich, a campaign spokesperson for Premier Doug Ford, said in an email.
Ford, who’s currently trying to win a third term in office, said Feb. 3 he would rip up the provincial government’s Starlink contract after Trump signed an order to put 25% tariffs on most imports from Canada. When the president agreed to a 30-day pause on the levies later that day, the premier backed off.
Since then, Trump has announced plans to impose 25% steel and aluminum tariffs in March and to add “reciprocal tariffs” as soon as April that would target countries that use value-added taxes, including Canada.
Canada is the largest supplier of both metals to the US, and the country accounted for nearly a quarter of the steel the US imported in 2024, according to data from the US Department of Commerce. Ontario is one of Canada’s key manufacturing centers and the heart of its steel industry, with plants owned by companies including Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. and Algoma Steel Group Inc.
Ontario announced in November it had signed Starlink to launch a program offering high-speed satellite internet access to rural and remote communities, beginning in June 2025. The Starlink deal was worth nearly C$100 million ($70.5 million), with the province to pay for installation and equipment fees, a member of Ford’s government said at the time.
Musk donated more than $200 million to Trump’s campaign and now heads a program called the Department of Government Efficiency.
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