Trump ends trade talks with Canada over Ontario premier’s tariff announcement

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump announced he will end “all trade negotiations” with Canada over a television ad sponsored by one of his provinces that used former President Ronald Reagan’s words to criticize U.S. tariffs, prompting the province’s leader to withdraw the ad.

The post on Trump’s social media site Thursday night raised tensions with the United States’ northern neighbor after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he plans to double his country’s exports to countries outside the United States because of the threat posed by Trump’s tariffs. White House officials said Trump’s reaction was the culmination of the administration’s long, pent-up frustration over Canada’s strategy in trade negotiations.

Later Friday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford, whose province had sponsored the ad, said it would be pulled.

Ford said after speaking with Prime Minister Mark Carney that he decided to pause the advertising campaign starting Monday so that trade negotiations can resume. Ford said they had achieved their goal, having reached American audiences at the highest level.

“Our intention was always to start a conversation about the type of economy Americans want to build and the impact of tariffs on workers and businesses,” Ford said. “We have achieved our goal, having reached American audiences at the highest level.”

The US president alleged that the ad misrepresented the position of 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 Trump has the power to impose his sweeping tariffs, a key part of his economic strategy. Trump is so interested in the case that he has said he would like to attend oral arguments.

“CANADA CHEATED AND TRAPPED!!!” Trump wrote on his social media site Friday morning. “They fraudulently accepted a big buy ad that said Ronald Reagan didn’t like tariffs, when in reality 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 our country’s history.”

Pool via Getty Images

Canadian PM insists after Trump ends talks

The ad was paid for by the Ontario government, not the Canadian federal government. Ford, the prime minister, initially did not back down, posting on Friday that Canada and the United States are allies “and Reagan knew they are stronger together.” Ford then provided a link to a Reagan speech in which the late president expresses his opposition to tariffs.

Ford had said the province plans to pay $54 million (about $75 million Canadian) to have the ads air on multiple U.S. television stations using audio and video of Reagan speaking about tariffs in 1987.

Although the ad will eventually be pulled, it will still air this weekend, including Game 1 of the World Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night.

Ford is a populist conservative who does not belong to the same party as Carney, a liberal.

For his part, Carney said his government remains willing to continue talks to reduce tariffs in certain sectors.

“We cannot control US trade policy. We recognize that that policy has fundamentally changed since the 1980s,” he said Friday morning before boarding a flight to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Malaysia. Trump will travel to the same summit on Friday night.

Reagan Foundation Speaks Out Against Advertising

On Thursday night, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute posted on It added that Ontario did not receive permission from the foundation “to use and edit the comments” and said it was reviewing legal options.

The foundation in Simi Valley, California, is perhaps best known for maintaining the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum. Its board includes longtime Republican Party stalwarts such as Trump’s former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, who resigned after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol, and former House Speaker Paul Ryan, whose free-market philosophy often clashes with Trump’s protectionist tendencies.

Another board member is Lachlan Murdoch, son of Rupert, executive chairman and CEO of News Corporation. The board is chaired by Fred Ryan, former editor and CEO of The Washington Post.

Trump wrote Thursday night that “the Ronald Reagan Foundation just announced that Canada has fraudulently used an ad, which is FALSE, in which Ronald Reagan speaks negatively about tariffs.” And he added: “TARIFFS ARE VERY IMPORTANT TO THE SECURITY AND NATIONAL ECONOMY OF THE USA. Based on their atrocious behavior, ALL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED.”

In reality, Reagan didn’t love tariffs. He often criticized government policies (including protectionist measures such as tariffs) that interfered with free trade, and he devoted much of that 1987 radio speech to making the case against tariffs.

The explosion was a long time coming, administration officials say

White House spokesman Kush Desai said the announcement was the “latest example of how Canadian officials prefer to play games rather than interact with the Administration.”

Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, told reporters at the White House on Friday that Canada has shown a “lack of flexibility” and also cited “leftover behaviors from Trudeau’s people,” referring to former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who had a frosty relationship with the Trump administration.

“If you look at all the countries in the world that we have made agreements with, and the fact that we are now negotiating with Mexico separately, it reveals that this is not just an announcement,” Hassett said.

Carney met with Trump earlier this month to try to ease trade tensions, as the two countries and Mexico prepare for a review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a trade deal that Trump negotiated in his first term but that has since deteriorated.

More than three-quarters of Canadian exports go to the United States, and nearly C$3.6 billion ($2.7 billion) in goods and services cross the border daily.

Trump initially seemed unfazed by the announcement.

Trump said earlier in the week that he had seen the ad on television and it didn’t seem to bother him. “If I were Canada, I would accept that same announcement too,” he said Tuesday during a lunch with Republican senators.

Ontario purchased more than $275,000 in advertising bookings for the ad to air in 198 of the country’s 210 media markets this month, according to data from nonpartisan media tracking firm AdImpact. It was broadcast most frequently in the New York market, with over 530 broadcasts, followed by Washington, DC, with around 280. The only other markets with over 100 broadcasts were Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and West Palm Beach, Florida.

Ford previously caught Trump’s attention with an electricity surcharge on US states. Trump responded by doubling tariffs on steel and aluminum.

The president has moved to impose high U.S. tariffs on many products from Canada. In April, Canada’s government imposed retaliatory levies on certain U.S. products but created exemptions so some automakers could bring a specific number of vehicles into the country, known as remittance quotas.

Trump’s tariffs have especially hurt Canada’s auto sector, much of which is based in Ontario. This month, Stellantis said it would move a production line from Ontario to Illinois.

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News writers Maya Sweedler and Paul Wiseman in Washington contributed to this report.