*

Trump's planned tariffs on steel, aluminum products from

Canada

rise to 50%

*

Ontario Premier Ford vows to maintain electricity levy

until US

tariffs are removed

*

Financial markets react negatively; S&P 500 index and

Canadian

dollar decline

By Doina Chiacu, Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON, March 11 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump

on Tuesday doubled his planned tariffs on all imports of steel

and aluminum products from Canada to 50%, in response to the

province of Ontario's decision to place a 25% tariff on its

electricity exports to the U.S.

Trump said in a post on his Truth Social media platform that

he has instructed his commerce secretary to add an additional

25% tariff on the metals products that will go into effect on

Wednesday morning.

"Also, Canada must immediately drop their Anti-American

Farmer Tariff of 250% to 390% on various U.S. dairy products,

which has long been considered outrageous. I will shortly be

declaring a National Emergency on Electricity within the

threatened area," Trump wrote.

He also threatened to "substantially increase" tariffs on

cars coming into the U.S. on April 2 "if other egregious, long

time Tariffs are not likewise dropped by Canada."

In a post on X sent after Trump's latest threat, Ontario

Premier Doug Ford - whose government is hiking the price on the

electricity it generates for portions of New York state,

Michigan and Minnesota - said he would not back down until all

of Trump's tariffs on Canadian imports to the U.S. were "gone

for good."

The latest broadside by Trump on tariffs delivered another

painful jolt to financial markets, with the benchmark S&P 500

index sliding almost 1.0% as investors worry the import

taxes will hurt U.S. growth and rekindle inflation. The Toronto

Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX Composite index was down

about 0.5% and the Canadian dollar fell against the greenback.

Broader 25% levies on all steel and aluminum imported to the

U.S. from anywhere are due to take effect early on Wednesday.

Those tariffs will apply to millions of tons of steel and

aluminum imports from Canada, Brazil, Mexico, South Korea and

other countries that had been entering the U.S. duty free under

carve-outs. Trump has vowed that the tariffs will be applied

"without exceptions or exemptions" in a move he hopes will aid

the struggling U.S. industries.

Trump's hyper-focus on tariffs since taking office in January

has rattled investor, consumer and business confidence in ways

that economists increasingly worry could cause a recession. A

small business survey on Tuesday showed sentiment weakening for

a third straight month, fully eroding a confidence boost

following Trump's November 5 election victory.

Reuters polls of economists last week showed risks to the

Mexican, Canadian and U.S. economies are piling up amid a

chaotic implementation of U.S. tariffs that has created deep

uncertainties for businesses and decision-makers. The surveys

showed 70 of 74 economists polled across Canada, the U.S. and

Mexico judged that the risk of a recession had increased, and

upside risks to inflation in the U.S. rose in particular.