TORONTO (AP) — The leader of Canada's most populous province posted remarks by former U.S. President Ronald Reagan on social media on Friday showing Reagan opposed tariffs, hours after President Donald Trump announced he’s ending “all trade negotiations” with Canada because of a television ad that Trump said misstates Reagan's opposition to tariffs.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford didn't back down and said Canada and the U.S. are friends, neighbors and 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.
A spokesperson for Ford said the ad will run Friday night during Game 1 of the World Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers.
On Thursday Trump posted, “The Ronald Reagan Foundation has just announced that Canada has fraudulently used an advertisement, which is FAKE, featuring Ronald Reagan speaking negatively about Tariffs.”
Trump doubled down on his criticism of the Ontario ads again on Friday and accused Canada of trying to influence an upcoming U.S. Supreme Court ruling on his global tariff regime.
Trump’s call for an abrupt end to negotiations has further inflamed trade tensions between the neighbors and longtime allies.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said this week he aims to double his country’s exports to countries outside the U.S. because of the threat posed by Trump’s tariffs. Canadian officials remain ready to continue talks to reduce tariffs in certain sectors, he said.
“We can’t control the trade policy of the United States. We recognize that that policy has fundamentally changed from the 1980s,” Carney said Friday morning before boarding a flight to Asia. “We have to focus on what we can control and realize what we can’t control.”
Carney is trying to secure a trade deal with Trump, but tariffs are taking a toll in the aluminum, steel, auto and lumber sectors.
White House spokesman Kush Desai said talks with Canada have not led to any constructive progress.
“Ontario’s taxpayer-funded ad campaign on American TV networks – that misleadingly edited President Reagan’s 1987 radio address about trade – is the latest example of how Canadian officials would rather play games than engage with the Administration," Desai said in a statement.
“As President Trump made clear on Truth Social, further talks are a futile effort if Canada can’t be serious.”
The Ontario government has said it would pay about $75 million Canadian (US$54 million) for the ads to air across multiple American television stations using audio and video of former president Reagan speaking about tariffs in 1987.
Ford said earlier this week he had heard that Trump had seen the ad.
“I’m sure he wasn’t too happy,” Ford said.
He said the aim is to “blast” the pro-trade message to Americans.
“It’s real, because it was coming from the best president the country’s ever seen, Ronald Reagan," Ford said. “I feel the Reagan Republicans are going to be fighting with the MAGA group, and let's hope, Reagan Republicans win.”
Ford is a populist conservative who doesn’t belong to the same party as Carney, a Liberal.
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew backed Ford.
“It’s clear that these ads are working. If you throw a rock at a lake and you don’t hear a splash, you probably missed. So to my good friend Doug Ford, keep the ads on TV. They’re effective, and this country is behind you,” Kinew said.
The premier of British Columbia, David Eby, said he will make ads that defend the lumber industry, saying Americans need to hear how tariffs raise prices.
But Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal, said the ad has backfired “big time.”
“Carney probably needs to speak to Ford and other premiers to bring some sense of public unity to Team Canada,” Béland said.
Trump has been threatening Canada’s economy and sovereignty with tariffs, most offensively by claiming Canada could be “the 51st state.”
Jason Kenney, a former Conservative cabinet minister under ex-Prime Minister Stephen Harper, called Trump’s posts “just embarrassing."
“The Ontario ad does not misrepresent President Reagan’s anti-tariff radio address in any respect whatsoever. It is a direct replay of his radio address, formatted for a one minute ad,” Kenney posted on social media.
Kenney also took aim at the Reagan foundation.
“They know perfectly well that the Ontario ad captures precisely President Reagan’s opposition to tariffs, and support for free trade. But it is obvious that the Foundation now has gormless leadership which is easily intimidated by a call from the White House, yet another sign of the hugely corrosive influence of Trump on the American conservative movement,” he posted
