Canadians pull Reagan tariff ad after furious Trump scraps trade talks

Summary

• Ontario paused an anti-tariff ad featuring Ronald Reagan after Trump cancelled trade talks, due to his anger over perceived misrepresentation.
• The ad used Reagan's quote against tariffs, prompting a legal review by the Reagan Foundation and fury from Trump, who called it "fake".
• Despite pausing the ad, it aired during the World Series games, showing rising tensions before a potential Trump-Carney meeting in South Korea.

WASHINGTON - The Canadian province of Ontario said on Oct 24 it would pull an anti-tariff ad featuring former US president Ronald Reagan that prompted current leader Donald Trump to scrap trade talks.

Trump announced on his Truth Social network on Oct 23 that he had “terminated” all negotiations with Canada
over what he called a “fake” ad campaign that he said misrepresented fellow Republican Reagan.

Less than 24 hours later, Ontario premier Doug Ford said he was suspending the ads after talking to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney about the spiralling row with Washington.

“In speaking with Prime Minister Carney, Ontario will pause its US advertising campaign effective Monday so that trade talks can resume,” Mr Ford said in a post on social media platform X.

Mr Ford added, however, that he had told his team to keep airing the ad during the first two games this weekend of baseball’s World Series – in which a Canadian team, the Toronto Blue Jays, face the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Canadian ad used quotes from a radio address on trade that Reagan delivered in 1987, in which he warned against ramifications that he said high tariffs on foreign imports could have on the US economy.

It cited Mr Reagan as saying that “high tariffs inevitably lead to retaliation by foreign countries and the triggering of fierce trade wars”, a quote that matches a transcript of his speech on the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library’s website.

The Ronald Reagan foundation wrote on X on Oct 23 that the Ontario government had used “selective audio and video” and that it was reviewing its legal options.

Mr Trump did not immediately react to the Ontario premier’s decision to pull the ad.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller told reporters that Mr Trump had made his “extreme displeasure” known and was expected to respond later.

A senior US official said that Mr Trump would probably encounter Mr Carney at a dinner on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in South Korea on Oct 29.

“They will likely see each other,” the official told AFP.

‘Cheated and got caught’

Mr Trump had first vented his fury at the ad late on Oct 23, saying it was designed to “interfere with the decision of the US Supreme Court”, which is due to rule on his sweeping global tariffs.

“CANADA CHEATED AND GOT CAUGHT!!!” he said in a new post, as he doubled down earlier on Oct 24.

Mr Carney had earlier sought to calm the situation, saying that his country was ready to resume “progress” on trade talks “when the Americans are ready”.

Canada has “to focus on what we can control, and realise what we cannot control”, he added as he headed to Asia.

The latest twist in relations between the US and Canada came just over two weeks after Mr Carney visited Trump at the White House to seek a relaxation of stiff US tariffs.

At that meeting, Mr Trump described Mr Carney as a “world-class leader” and said the Canadian would “walk away very happy” from their discussion.

Mr Trump’s global sectoral tariffs – particularly on steel, aluminium and cars – have hit Canada hard, forcing job losses and squeezing businesses.

For now, the US and Canada adhere to an existing North American trade deal called the USMCA, which ensures that roughly 85 per cent of cross-border trade in both directions remains tariff-free.

But in a speech on Oct 22, Mr Carney said that the US has raised “its tariffs to levels last seen during the Great Depression”.

“Our economic strategy needs to change dramatically,” Mr Carney added, saying the process “will take some sacrifices and some time”.

White House National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett told reporters earlier that Canada had been “very difficult to negotiate with” and that “frustration has built up over time” for the President. AFP