The Canadian province of Ontario is canceling a C$100 million (about $68 million USD) contract with Starlink in response to tariffs US President Donald Trump issued on Canada over the weekend, reports The Associated Press. Ontario Premier Doug Ford wrote on X Monday that the region is also “banning American companies from provincial contracts” until the tariffs are removed.
“We’ll be ripping up the province’s contract with Starlink,” Ford wrote, “Ontario won’t do business with people hellbent on destroying our economy.” He said the province spends “$30 billion on procurement” for regional projects.
However, after Donald Trump and Justin Trudeau announced an arrangement to delay the tariffs for 30 days, Ford said “With the US pausing tariffs, Ontario will also pause our retaliatory measures. If President Trump proceeds with tariffs, we won’t hesitate to remove American products off LCBO shelves or ban American companies from provincial procurement.”
Starlink parent company SpaceX did not immediately respond to our request for comment.
Ford singling out Starlink reflects other calls for action against companies run by Elon Musk, who bragged about working this weekend to take extralegal control of US government finances. In addition to broader tariffs that have been announced for US goods, Canadian Prime Minister candidate Chrystia Freeland said last week that Canada should issue “very targeted,” 100 percent tariffs on certain US goods, specifically including Tesla.
Update, February 6th: Noted the Starlink deal is staying in place for now.
