Elon Musk nearly lost a Starlink contract with Canada worth millions of dollars due to Donald Trump’s greedy tariff threats.
After months of threatening tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China and touting tariffs as the key to the economy, Trump moved to implement 25% tariffs on Canada on February 4. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned Trump that such tariffs would hurt Canadians and Americans. However, the president moved ahead with his plan, quickly sparking retaliatory measures from Canada. The country ordered 25% tariffs on American imports. It planned to start the tariffs on beverages, cosmetics, and paper products before releasing a second, more extensive list, including vehicles, steel, fruits and vegetables, produce, and more. Canada also found a unique retaliatory measure by going after Musk.
Since the election, the billionaire tech mogul Musk has practically become Trump’s right-hand man. He’s not an elected official and has no government experience, but he has business interests all over the place. Hence, it seems Canada realized that if they wanted to get to Trump, they could do so easily through Musk. As Musk attempts to seize classified government information and dismantle departments, Canada may have inadvertently demonstrated the most effective way to combat his government takeover.
Canada threatened to shred Elon Musk’s Starlink contract
In November of 2024, Musk secured a Starlink contract with Ontario Premier Doug Ford. The $68 million contract arranged for Musk to deliver Starlink services to remote residents in parts of Ontario. However, following Trump’s tariff threats, Ford announced the deal was off. Ford stated, “We’ll be ripping up the province’s contract with Starlink. Ontario won’t do business with people hellbent on destroying our economy.” He also suggested that Musk could talk to “his buddy” Trump if he wanted to keep the contract.
Trump ultimately backed down, reaching an agreement to pause tariffs on Canada. Canada also quickly paused its retaliatory measures, including terminating its Starlink contract. It’s unclear if the contract threat had anything to do with Trump backing down, but it seems it could have been an effective measure. On social media, users were anticipating a tantrum from Musk after the contract cancelation. User Art Candee wrote, “Cue President Space Karen’s meltdown.”

Even though the contract may not be canceled, it was quite a bold and smart threat. It’s similar to a threat California Gov. Gavin Newsom made to get under Musk’s skin. He promised that if Trump ended federal tax credits for electric vehicles, he’d offer a replacement rebate plan for Californians but would ensure to exclude Tesla from the program. The potential move would be a huge advantage for Tesla’s competitors.
Both Newsom’s and Canada’s threats may be the answer for Americans who have been asking how they can stop Musk from tightening his control over the federal government. It may be time for leaders to get bold and determine what contracts can be terminated and how many restrictions, regulations, and exclusions can be applied to all of Musk’s companies. They could likely do quite a bit of damage if they made a concerted effort to cut business ties with him over his actions in the government. Many are aware that Musk’s businesses pose a danger due to conflicts of interest in the government. However, it’s important to remember they also make him a liability to the Trump administration because they pose a way to get to him and Trump.
Published: Feb 4, 2025 05:45 pm