U.S. terminates Canada trade over Reagan ad

Ontario Premier Doug Ford clapped back Friday at President Donald Trump for terminating all trade negotiations with Canada over an ad that Ontario has been running in the U.S. featuring former President Ronald Reagan criticizing tariffs.

Trump late Thursday night cited a complaint about the ad by The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute for his decision to end talks.

“TARIFFS ARE VERY IMPORTANT TO THE NATIONAL SECURITY, AND ECONOMY, OF THE U.S.A. Based on their egregious behavior, ALL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.

The Reagan foundation said that the ad misrepresents Reagan’s radio address speech from April 25, 1987, and that the former president’s remarks were edited without permission.

It encouraged people to listen to an unedited video of his address on its YouTube channel. The foundation did not say what it alleged was misleading about the Ontario ad, but said it was reviewing its legal options.

Ontario’s ad correctly reflected the fact that Reagan, in his address, defended the concept of free trade. But the ad omitted the fact that Reagan was defending his decision to impose tariffs on imports from Japan.

On Friday, Ford appeared to answer the foundation’s criticism by tweeting a message that included a YouTube link from the Reagan Library to the same unedited video showing Reagan criticizing tariffs that the foundation had referenced.

“High tariffs inevitably lead to retaliation by foreign countries and the triggering of fierce trade wars,” Reagan says on that clip, in which he also says tariffs result in “artificially high” prices.

Ford wrote on his X post, “Canada and the United States are friends, neighbours and allies. President Ronald Reagan knew that we are stronger together.”

“God bless Canada and God bless the United States,” he said.

Trump on Thursday accused the ad of misleadingly saying that Reagan disliked tariffs “when actually he LOVED TARIFFS FOR OUR COUNTRY, AND ITS NATIONAL SECURITY.”

“The Ronald Reagan Foundation has just announced that Canada has fraudulently used an advertisement, which is FAKE, featuring Ronald Reagan speaking negatively about Tariffs,” Trump wrote.

He claimed that the ad was intended to influence a pending U.S. Supreme Court case that could doom many of his wide-ranging tariffs, including ones on Canada.

Ford said on Oct. 14 that the province would spend $75 million on the ads to run in the United States.

“We’re going to repeat that message to every Republican district there is, right across the entire country,” said Ford, who called himself a “big Ronald Reagan fan.” 

Ford posted the ad on X on Oct. 16.

On the ad, Reagan is heard saying, “When someone says, ‘Let’s impose tariffs on foreign imports,’ it looks like they’re doing the patriotic thing by protecting American products and jobs.”

“And sometimes for a short while it works, but only for a short time,” Reagan says, over images of American landscapes, domestic scenes, and workplaces.

“But over the long run, such trade barriers hurt every American worker and consumer.”

Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, was asked about Trump’s cancellation of trade negotiations with Canada on Friday morning as he spoke to reporters at the White House.

“Obviously, the president Truthed something that reveals his frustration with the actions and postures of the Canadians through months of negotiations, and we’ll see how it goes,” Hassett said.

“I think the frustration has built up over time,” Hassett said. “I’ve been involved in some of these negotiations, and the Canadians have been very difficult to negotiate with.”

Thursday was the second time that Trump said he was terminating trade talks with Canada.

On June 27, he said the United States was “terminating ALL discussions on Trade with Canada” in response to Ottawa’s decision to impose a digital services tax on American tech firms.

Canada rescinded that tax two days later.