Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Friday his government will withdraw a television ad criticizing U.S. tariffs after it sparked backlash from President Donald Trump, who responded by announcing an end to all trade negotiations with Canada.
The post on Trump’s social media site came Thursday night, ratcheting up tensions with the U.S.'s northern neighbor after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he plans to double his country’s exports to countries outside the U.S. because of the threat posed by Trump’s tariffs. White House officials said Trump's reaction was a culmination of the administration's long, pent-up frustration about Canada’s strategy in trade talks.
Ford said after talking with Prime Minister Mark Carney he’s decided to pause the advertising campaign effective Monday so that trade talks can resume. Ford said they’ve achieved their goal, having reached U.S. 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," Ford said. "We’ve achieved our goal, having reached U.S. audiences at the highest levels.”
The U.S. president alleged 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 U.S. 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 invested in the case that he has said he'd like to attend oral arguments.
"CANADA CHEATED AND GOT CAUGHT!!!” Trump wrote on his social media site 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 federal government. Ontario Premier Doug Ford didn’t back down, posting on Friday that Canada and the U.S. are allies "and Reagan knew that both are stronger together.” Ford then provided a link to a Reagan speech where the late president voices opposition to tariffs.
Ford has said the province plans to pay $54 million (about $75 million Canadian) for the ads to air across multiple American television stations using audio and video of Reagan speaking about tariffs in 1987.
A spokesperson for Ford said the ad will run during a Game 1 of the World Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night.
Ford is a populist conservative who doesn’t belong to the same party as Carney, a Liberal.
For his part, Carney said his government remains ready to continue talks to reduce tariffs in certain sectors.
"We can’t control the trade policy of the United States. We recognize that that policy has fundamentally changed from the 1980s,” he said Friday morning before boarding a flight for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Malaysia. Trump is set to travel to the same summit Friday night.
Earlier Thursday night, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute posted on X that the ad "misrepresents the ‘Presidential Radio Address to the Nation on Free and Fair Trade’ dated April 25, 1987.” It added that Ontario did not receive foundation permission "to use and edit the remarks” 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 former Trump 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, the son of Rupert who is executive chairman and CEO of Fox Corporation. The board is chaired by Fred Ryan, the former publisher and CEO of The Washington Post.
Trump wrote Thursday night that "The Ronald Reagan Foundation has just announced that Canada has fraudulently used an advertisement, which is FAKE, featuring Ronald Reagan speaking negatively about Tariffs." He added, "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.”
White House spokesman Kush Desai said the ad was the "latest example of how Canadian officials would rather play games than engage 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 the Trudeau folks,” referring to former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who had a frosty relationship with the Trump administration.
"If you look at all the countries around the world that we’ve made deals with, and the fact that we’re now negotiating with Mexico separately reveals that it’s not just about one ad,” 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 U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a trade deal Trump negotiated in his first term but has since soured on.
More than three-quarters of Canadian exports go to the U.S., and nearly $3.6 billion Canadian ($2.7 billion U.S.) worth of goods and services cross the border daily.
Trump said earlier in the week that he had seen the ad on TV and didn't seem bothered by it. "If I was Canada, I’d take that same ad also," he said Tuesday during a lunch with Republican senators.
Ontario bought more than $275,000 of ad reservations for the spot to air in 198 of the nation’s 210 media markets this month, according to data from the nonpartisan media tracking firm AdImpact. It was broadcast most frequently in the New York market, with more than 530 airings, followed by Washington, D.C., at around 280. The only other markets with more than 100 airings were those around Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and West Palm Beach, Florida.
Ford previously got Trump’s attention with an electricity surcharge to U.S. states. Trump responded by doubling steel and aluminum tariffs.
The president has moved to impose steep U.S. tariffs on many goods from Canada. In April, Canada’s government imposed retaliatory levies on certain U.S. goods -- but it carved out exemptions for some automakers to bring specific numbers of vehicles into the country, known as remission 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.
