US President Donald Trump has announced that he is immediately canceling any trade talks with Canada over critical ads about tariffs, the BBC reports.
A paid advertisement by the government of the Canadian province of Ontario quoted former US president and American conservative icon Ronald Reagan as saying that tariffs are hurting every American. Trump has said on social media that the ad is fake and unheard of, and that the talks have been called off.
The Trump administration has imposed a 35% tariff on many Canadian goods, with a separate tariff rate applied to certain sectors, such as the automotive industry. Ontario has been hit hard by the tariff hike. The US president has made exceptions for products covered by free trade agreements with Canada and Mexico signed during his first term. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has been trying to broker a deal to ease US tariffs since taking office this year. Now, that has been complicated by Ontario Premier Doug Ford, one of the harshest critics of tariffs and the one behind the ad that angered Trump.
The minute-long ad features Reagan’s voice over the background of images of the New York Stock Exchange and cranes decorated with Canadian and US flags. The video uses a speech Reagan gave in 1987, in which he says that imposing tariffs on imported products only appears to protect American products and jobs.
“And sometimes, for a short while it works, but only for a short time,”
Reagan said at the time. The then-US president said that in the long run, trade restrictions hurt every American, both workers and consumers.
The Ronald Reagan Foundation, which preserves the president’s legacy, issued a statement on the 23rd of October saying that the ad used a portion of the president’s speech out of context. The ad misinterpreted what the former president said, but the foundation did not substantiate the claim. The Ontario government has been accused of failing to seek permission and distorting the statements.
Trump referred to the foundation’s statement and said that the ad was designed to interfere with the US Supreme Court’s planned decision in November on whether US import tariffs are legal. The upcoming ruling is the biggest test of Trump’s authority as president, and the US could have to pay back billions of dollars already collected on imported products.
In a post after the ad was released, Ford wrote that he would never stop fighting against the tariffs imposed by the US.
A similar video was also used by the Chinese Embassy in Washington this year.
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