“We need to be ready. We need to be ready to fight. This fight is coming 100 percent on Jan. 20th or Jan. 21.”

Trump has threatened tariffs on all Canadian and Mexican imports on the first day of his presidency if the two countries don’t exercise better control over illegal immigration and drugs at their borders.

Ottawa has tried to reassure the incoming Trump administration with statistics that show an extremely low level of fentanyl and people trafficking occurring at the northern border of the U.S.

But heated rhetoric in recent days, with Trump trolling Trudeau on social media as the “governor” of a potential “51st” state has resonated in Ottawa ahead of the meeting of Trudeau and his provincial counterparts.

The comments by Ford, a plain-spoken conservative with his own populist touch, represented a dropping of the gloves from Canada against Trump.

Ford’s threat, if it were ever enacted, would carry serious consequences for both countries.

Canada supplies more crude oil to the U.S. than any other country, accounting for about 60 percent of all American imports.

The U.S. is the destination of 97 percent of Canada’s crude oil exports, according to Statistics Canada.

Ford said Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland would be compiling a list of American products that could be subject to retaliatory tariffs.

“We’re going to put our list together,” he said.

This wouldn’t be the first time Canada hit back at the U.S. In 2018, when the first Trump administration imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, Canada retaliated with a long list of U.S. products that faced reciprocal tariffs, from Kentucky bourbon to toilet paper manufactured in the Midwest.

That tariff fight broke out during the renegotiation of the then North American Free Trade Agreement. Freeland recalled leading the government’s response as foreign affairs minister back then, and noted the suggestions that Ottawa received from several premiers in Wednesday’s meeting.

“A number of premiers offered strong support for a robust Canadian response that included some of the premiers proactively naming critical minerals and metals that their provinces produce and which are exported to the United States,” she said.

Ford told reporters he thinks Trump is “a little more aggressive” than he was in the past. “He’s a different type of cat, to say the least,” he added.

The premier said he’d welcome a sit down with Trump. “I’d never refuse a meeting with any president,” he said. “It doesn’t matter who it is.”

Trump’s return to the White House has also created uncertainty about the status and future of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which is up for renewal in 2026.

Ford has recently been calling on Canada to pursue a bilateral pact with the U.S. that excludes Mexico. “Since signing onto the USMCA, Mexico has allowed itself to become a back door for Chinese cars, auto parts and other products into Canadian and American markets,” he said last month. “If Mexico isn’t going to play by the rules, they shouldn’t have a seat at the table.”

Mexico has a clear choice, Ford said Wednesday. “You’re either with Beijing or you’re with Washington. And I can tell you, Ontario and Canadians, they’re with Washington.”