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Today, I met with industry leaders from the steel and automotive sectors. We had a productive discussion on how these tariffs will impact their sectors. I assured them that our government will work tirelessly to support them & Ontario workers, and make Ontario open for business. pic.twitter.com/ppoY6uA9e3 — Doug Ford (@fordnation) June 13, 2018

In the lead-up to the June 7 provincial election, Ford was highly critical of what he called “corporate welfare” but it wasn’t immediately clear what he would be prepared to do to defend Ontario business interests in the event of a full-blown trade war with the U.S.

He did speak in general terms about supporting Ontario workers and making the province more competitive.

Ford mentioned the need for lower hydro costs and an end to the cap-and-trade program to lower business costs.

Unlike his predecessor Kathleen Wynne, Ford was not prepared to label the U.S. actions bullying, although he did say there was no need for name calling from the U.S. half of the talks.

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President Donald Trump and his senior advisers have been highly critical of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, calling him dishonest and weak, while slapping tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum and threatening similar actions against the country’s auto sector as the two sides try to hammer out a new free trade deal.

According to the Ontario government, there are 104,000 autoworkers in the province.

Unifor says autoworker paycheques contributed $6.1 billion to the Ontario economy in 2014.

“One of our most important commitments is to protect Ontario jobs,” Ford said. “ I want to be very clear that the Ontario government will stand side by side with our federal partners, we will stand shoulder to shoulder when it comes to our national and provincial interests.”

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said Ford must back the province’s steel and aluminum industries with a plan of action that includes guaranteed loans for companies and support packages for individual workers.

“Thousands of families in the steel and aluminium industries in Kingston, Nanticoke, Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, and in my hometown of Hamilton are worried about whether they’ll still have a job that puts food on the table and pays the bills by the end of the month, thanks to President Donald Trump’s tariffs,” Horwath said in a statement.

aartuso@postmedia.com