Trump cuts Canada trade talks as Ontario premier plans to drop tariffs ad
President Donald Trump announced he is ending “all trade negotiations” with Canada because of a television advert sponsored by one of its provinces that used the words of former president Ronald Reagan to criticise US tariffs — prompting the province’s leader to later pull the ad.
The post on Mr Trump’s social media site on Thursday ratcheted up tensions with the US’s northern neighbour after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he plans to double his country’s exports to countries outside the US because of the threat posed by Mr Trump’s tariffs.
White House officials said Mr Trump’s reaction was a culmination of the administration’s long, pent-up frustration about Canada’s strategy in trade talks.
Later on Friday, Ontario premier Doug Ford, whose province had sponsored the ad, said it would be taken down.
Mr Ford said after talking with Mr Carney he had decided to pause the advertising campaign effective from Monday so that trade talks can resume.
Mr Ford said they had achieved their goal, having reached “US audiences at the highest levels”.
“Our intention was always to initiate a conversation about the kind of economy that Americans want to build and the impact of tariffs on workers and businesses,” Mr Ford said.
The US president alleged the ad misrepresented the position of Mr Reagan, a two-term president who remains a beloved figure in the Republican Party, and was aimed at influencing the US Supreme Court ahead of a hearing scheduled for next month that could decide whether Mr Trump has the power to impose his sweeping tariffs, a key part of his economic strategy.
Mr Trump is so invested in the case that he has said he would like to attend oral arguments.
“CANADA CHEATED AND GOT CAUGHT!!!” Mr Trump wrote on his social media site on Friday morning.
“They fraudulently took a big buy ad saying that Ronald Reagan did not like Tariffs, when actually he LOVED TARIFFS FOR OUR COUNTRY, AND ITS NATIONAL SECURITY.
“Canada is trying to illegally influence the United States Supreme Court in one of the most important rulings in the history of our Country.”
The ad was paid for by Ontario’s government, not the Canadian government.
Mr Ford, the premier, did not initially back down, posting on Friday that Canada and the US are allies “and Reagan knew that both are stronger together”.
Mr Ford then provided a link to a Reagan speech where the late president voices opposition to tariffs.
Mr Ford had said the province plans to pay 54 million dollars (about 75 million Canadian dollars) for the ads to air across multiple American television stations using audio and video of Mr Reagan speaking about tariffs in 1987.
Even though the ad will eventually be taken down, it will still run this weekend, including Game 1 of the World Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night.
Mr Carney said his government remained ready to continue talks to reduce tariffs in certain sectors.
“We can’t control the trade policy of the United States. We recognise that that policy has fundamentally changed from the 1980s,” he said on Friday morning before boarding a flight for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Malaysia.
Mr Trump is set to travel to the same summit on Friday night.
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