Ontario Premier Provokes Trump’s Ire Once Again with Reagan Ad – Trump Reacts with Additional 10% Tariff

The premier of Ontario has again complicated the country’s delicate trade negotiations with the U.S., this time with a political ad targeting Americans that has drawn the ire of U.S. President Donald Trump. The ad, commissioned by Doug Ford, Ontario’s outspoken Conservative premier who is sometimes compared to Trump, uses a snippet of Republican icon and former President Ronald Reagan saying that tariffs cause trade wars and economic disaster.

In a series of posts on Truth Social late on Thursday, Trump called the ad fraudulent, declaring that “ALL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED.” Prime Minister Mark Carney, unlike Ford, has sought to lower the temperature with Trump since taking office in March and had hoped for a deal to eliminate U.S. tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum imports. In March, Ford, who often sports a “Canada is not for sale” hat, threatened to implement a surcharge on energy going to several American states if the U.S. moved ahead with tariffs on steel and aluminum. Ford later relented, and the White House claimed victory, saying he had “Backed down.”

Ford said in a Friday statement that after discussions with Carney, Ontario would pause the U.S. advertising campaign on Monday so that trade talks could resume. But the disputed commercial will continue to air this weekend as the Toronto Blue Jays play in the first two games of the World Series, he added. Ford said the message has reached U.S. audiences “at the highest levels.”

ATTACK DOG APPROACH

Some analysts suggested that Ford’s ad was only a pretext for Trump’s outburst. “Mr. Trump doesn’t like to be confronted with the truth,” said Asa McKercher, an expert in U.S.-Canada politics at St. Francis Xavier University. He said that the ad is an accurate representation of Reagan’s views. Trump first saw the ad earlier in the week and said on Tuesday, “If I was Canada, I’d take that same ad also.” McKercher said that Ford has often used his aggressive and populist style to appeal to American audiences in appearances on conservative-leaning outlets like Fox News, but that his latest ad may have misfired.

The Canadian dollar weakened after Trump broke off trade talks, and Ontario is the province most impacted by auto and steel tariffs.

“When you use Ford’s attack-dog approach, there’s always a risk that you’re going to get smacked,” McKercher said, adding it would be Carney who might need to make concessions to get Trump back to trade negotiations.

Still, Ford’s approach attracted some unusual support from politicians on the other side of the political spectrum.

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew, who heads the left-leaning New Democratic Party in the province, posted a message for his “good friend Doug Ford,” calling on him to keep running the ads.

Green Party leader Elizabeth May cheered “Go Doug Ford!” as she arrived at Parliament in Ottawa on Friday. Pollster Shachi Kurl, president of the Angus Reid Institute, said Ford has acted “as the more pugilistic foil” when the prime minister has adopted a more conciliatory approach to Trump, noting that “it’s not a stance that generally hurts him (Ford).”

In February, Ford handily won a rare third term as Ontario premier. Earlier this month, Ford said he confronted and threatened to beat up a suspected shoplifter at a Home Depot store, telling an audience at a Toronto club, “Screw this, I’m going after this guy.”

CLEARLY RESONATING

Trump previously called off trade talks with Canada in June, citing his objection to Canada’s digital services tax. Carney rescinded the tax later that month.

Under previous Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Trump threatened numerous times to walk away from trade talks between Canada, Mexico and the U.S.

Laura Stephenson, chair of political science at Ontario’s Western University, said Carney does not have many good options, but that the situation is fixable.

“Ford can play the bad guy and Carney will have to be the level-headed guy trying to keep discussions on track,” she said.

Diamond Isinger, a former U.S.-Canada adviser to Trudeau, said Ford’s ad clearly resonated with American audiences.

“If the ad wasn’t effective, Trump would not be so deeply concerned about it,” she said.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday he was increasing tariffs on Canada by an additional 10% “above what they’re paying now,” as he reacted again to an ad by Canada’s Ontario province, a day after it was aired during the World Series broadcast.

Trump announced the higher tariffs in a Truth Social post on Saturday referencing the ad, which features a video of former President Ronald Reagan, a Republican icon, saying that tariffs cause trade wars and economic disaster. The ad had already been running for some days before Trump first reacted to it on Thursday night.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said on Friday that after discussions with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Ontario would pause the U.S. ad campaign on Monday so that trade talks could resume.

The advertisement aired Friday during the broadcast for Game 1 of Major League Baseball’s World Series, in which the Toronto Blue Jays are facing off against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

“Their Advertisement was to be taken down, IMMEDIATELY, but they let it run last night during the World Series, knowing that it was a FRAUD,” Trump posted.

“Because of their serious misrepresentation of the facts, and hostile act, I am increasing the Tariff on Canada by 10% over and above what they are paying now,” he wrote.

Trump posted the message while he was aboard Air Force One on his way to Malaysia, the first stop on a trip through East Asia that will largely focus on trade issues.

The U.S. Commerce Department, the White House and the office of the Canadian prime minister did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

MOST CANADIAN EXPORTS TO U.S. ARE EXEMPT FROM TARIFFS

It was not clear what goods would be affected by Trump’s newly announced tariffs. The majority of Canadian exports to the U.S. are exempt from tariffs because of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) that was signed during Trump’s first term.

The Trump administration in August imposed a 35% tariff on Canadian goods not covered by the USMCA. But Canada’s economy has suffered from sector tariffs of 50% imposed this year by Trump on steel and aluminum from all countries.

Carney said on Friday that Canada stood ready to resume trade talks with the United States. Trump and Carney will both be at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Malaysia, but he told reporters on Air Force One he has no plans to meet with the Canadian leader.

The Canadian prime minister had removed most of Canada’s retaliatory tariffs on U.S. imports imposed by his predecessor, but White House adviser Kevin Hassett said on Friday that Trump was frustrated with Canada and trade talks have not been going well.

The ad by the Ontario government has a voiceover of Reagan criticizing tariffs on foreign goods while saying they cause job losses and trade wars. The video uses five complete sentences from the five-minute weekly address, spliced together out of sequence.

The ad does not mention that Reagan was using the address to explain that tariffs imposed on Japan by his administration should be seen as a sadly unavoidable exception to his basic belief in free trade as the key to prosperity.

(Reporting by Maria Cheng; Editing by Caroline Stauffer and Marguerita Choy)