The commerce warfare is beginning to get private for Elon Musk. On the similar time that he known as President Donald Trump’s high commerce adviser “dumber than a sack of bricks,” Musk stands to lose lots of of tens of millions of {dollars} in Canadian subsidies for his satellite tv for pc web service, Starlink.
It’s been a turbulent month for Starlink and Canada. On March 4, Ontario Premier Doug Ford ripped up a Starlink contract value $100 million. Quebec, which has spent $130 million to offer residents discounted Starlink service for the previous three years, informed the Monetary Instances that it received’t renew the contract when it expires in June. And on April 3, Yukon Premier Ranj Pillai mentioned he would comply with swimsuit, canceling as many Starlink contracts as doable.
“Mr. Musk is a part of a risk to our sovereignty so long as he is aiding and abetting President Trump,” Geoff White, the chief director of the Public Curiosity Advocacy Centre, informed CNET. “I feel we have to take a severe have a look at whether or not or not we wish this firm offering service in any respect.”
Paperwork reviewed by The Monetary Instances present that Bell Canada — the most important telecom firm within the nation by income — and its subsidiary Northwestel are lobbying the Canadian authorities to maintain Starlink from getting subsidies to serve the nation’s distant northern areas. In accordance with Starlink, the corporate had over 400,000 subscribers in Canada as of June 2024.
The scenario is harking back to Starlink’s bid for $900 million in US broadband grants three years in the past. That bid in the end was denied as a result of Starlink couldn’t present that it may meet the FCC’s velocity necessities. Since then the corporate’s luck has turned within the US. After Musk spent $132 million to elect Republican candidates in 2024, Starlink is now poised to obtain as a lot as $20 billion in rural broadband subsidies.
Whereas Trump introduced a 90-day pause in tariffs Wednesday, it’s unclear if Canada will again down from its Starlink divestment. Starlink has been an enormous profit for Canadians in distant areas with out another choices for dependable web, however it’s additionally been criticized for its excessive price ticket. Starlink prices $140 per thirty days in Canadian {dollars} (at the moment $99 US), in comparison with $120 a month within the US.
A consultant for Starlink didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Different international locations take a extra conciliatory method
Tariffs haven’t been a guilt-by-association demise sentence for Starlink elsewhere on the planet. Prematurely of Trump’s “Liberation Day” on April 2, Vietnam granted approval to Starlink to function in that nation on a trial foundation till 2030 — a transfer some analysts view as an effort by the nation to keep away from being hit with US tariffs because of its massive bilateral commerce surplus.
Bangladesh additionally greenlighted Starlink just some days earlier than its imports had been hit with 37% tariffs. And on April 8, Brazil allowed Starlink on to launch an extra 7.500 satellites within the nation — greater than double the 4,408 Starlink satellites at the moment allowed to function there.
