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“You’ve seen the study from Yale, it’s going to cost Americans $2,400 (per household) and manufacturing employment in the U.S.,” said the premier, referring to new estimates by the non-partisan .

The Ivy League lab found the average overall tariff rate stateside is now 18.6 per cent, the highest since 1933. In contrast, average tariffs in the U.S. were around two per cent when former president Joe Biden left office in January.

Yale concluded “the 2025 tariffs disproportionately affect clothing and textiles, with consumers facing 39 per cent higher shoe prices and 37 per cent higher apparel prices in the short run.”

“Shoes and apparel prices stay 19 per cent and 18 per cent higher in the long run respectively,” the lab said Thursday.

The research institute also warned real gross domestic growth would be reduced by 0.5 percentage points annually this year and next and that Trump’s levies would cause the unemployment rate to jump by 0.3 percentage points in 2025 and by 0.7 percentage points in 2026.

“Payroll employment is 505,000 lower by the end of 2025,” predicted the lab, which adjusts its data each time Trump slaps a new levy on imported goods.

Ford told Blitzer the trend lines do not favour Trump’s strategy.

“There’s over 37,000 people since April have lost their jobs. It’s the lowest rate in five years, and it’s just not working,” the premier said.

Last week, Trump fired labour statistics commissioner Erika McEntarfer after the July employment report found that just 73,000 jobs were added that month and total hiring in June and May was revised downward by 258,000 jobs.

“This is hurting the American people, as (other) the countries, including Canada (are) diversifying our trade. We’re seeing 25 per cent increase in trade with European Union. The U.K. is up by 30 per cent so as we’re diversifying and ‘on-shoring’ products, the American people are losing their jobs,” the premier said.

Asked by Blitzer about “the general impression of Trump in Canada,” Ford did not mince words.

“He’s probably most disliked politician in the world in Canada because he’s attacked his closest family member and that’s the way we look on it,” he said.

“And when I talk to the governors and senators and congresspeople — even Republicans — (they) totally disagree (with the tariffs), but they’re too scared to come out and say anything, because the president will go after them.”

On Wednesday, following a virtual meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney and the other premiers, Ford expressed concern about the potential renegotiation of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) within the next year or so.

“Fasten our seatbelt. CUSMA, or USMCA, whatever you want to call it, he’s coming at us hard. He is going to come at us with everything he has and we have to make sure that we’re ready,” he told reporters at Queen’s Park.

A week ago, Trump unilaterally raised tariffs to 35 per cent on Canadian goods that aren’t covered under CUSMA. Around 85 per cent of Canadian exports stateside currently fall under the trade pact and are exempt from most duties. 

Carney said Tuesday he wants to “reinforce” CUSMA rather than get mired in the current tariff dispute. 

“There’s a bigger picture there,” the prime minister said in Kelowna, B.C.

CUSMA, which was signed by Trump and former prime minister Justin Trudeau, has been in effect since July 2020. It is up for review next year and Ford is worried the president “could pull the carpet out from underneath us on CUSMA tomorrow with one signature.”