Donald Trump has announced an immediate end to “all trade negotiations” with Canada over a television advertisement opposing US tariffs that quoted the former US president Ronald Reagan.
The ad, which was paid for by the government of the Canadian province of Ontario, uses excerpts of a 1987 speech where Reagan says “trade barriers hurt every American worker”.
Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that Canada had “fraudulently used an advertisment[sic]”, which he called “FAKE”, and accused the country of trying to interfere with US court decisions on the levies. “Based on their egregious behavior, all trade negotiations with Canada are hereby terminated,” he wrote.
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, confirmed on Friday that all trade negotiations with Ottawa had been suspended. Trump later posted on Truth Social that “Canada cheated and got caught”. He claimed the ad was an attempt to influence the US supreme court hearings on the legality of his global tariffs, which begin on 5 November.
Washington originally imposed a 25% tariff on imports of Canadian goods including timber, steel, aluminum and cars in the spring, prompting retaliatory action from Ottawa. The rate was raised to 35% by Trump in August.
Ontario has been particularly badly hit by the escalating trade war, and the province’s premier, Doug Ford, has been one of the most vocal critics of the US border taxes.
Ford launched the province’s new advertising campaign featuring Reagan’s comments earlier in October. He said at the time in a post on Instagram: “Using every tool we have, we’ll never stop making the case against American tariffs on Canada. The way to prosperity is by working together.”
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The minute-long clip, aimed at a US audience, features excerpts from a presidential radio address by Reagan, played over images of workers and families, the New York stock exchange, as well as cargo ships and cranes flying US and Canadian flags.
The April 1987 speech was broadcast before a visit to the US by the prime minister of Japan at a time of trade tensions between the two countries and shortly after Reagan had levied import duties on some Japanese products such as computer chips.
In the excerpt, Reagan says: “When someone says: ‘Let’s impose tariffs on foreign imports,’ it looks like they’re doing the patriotic thing by protecting American products and jobs. And sometimes, for a short while it works, but only for a short time.
“But over the long run, such trade barriers hurt every American worker and consumer.”
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute, a non-profit organisation that works to advance his legacy and principles, wrote in a post on X that Ontario did not seek or receive permission to include the clips.
The foundation said in a statement that the advert used “selective audio and video” and “misrepresents” Reagan’s comments. It said it was “reviewing its legal options”. Trump cited the foundation’s criticism in his Truth Social post.
Ford wrote on X on Friday: “Canada and the United States are friends, neighbours and allies. President Ronald Reagan knew that we are stronger together.”
Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, has said he was “disappointed” by Trump’s decision to raise the level of tariffs in August. The two leaders met earlier this month in an attempt to ease tensions over trade, and to prepare for a review of the US-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 US, and almost C$3.6bn (£1.9bn) worth of goods and services cross the border daily.
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Carney has said he would continue to negotiate with the US and would also work on bringing down trade barriers within Canada to create new investment and get consumers to buy Canadian-made goods, while diversifying export markets.
Trump’s administration is also hardening its stance on other nations, including imposing the first sanctions on Russia since his return to the White House.
Washington announced on Wednesday it was putting sanctions on Russia’s two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, adding to US pressure on the Kremlin to negotiate an end to its war against Ukraine.
The US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, is to meet China’s vice-premier, He Lifeng, in Malaysia on Friday for trade talks, at a time of escalating trade tensions between the two powers. Trump is due to have the first meeting in his second term with China’s president, Xi Jinping, at the end of the month in South Korea.
Reagan’s 1987 speech was a defence of free but fair trade in which he explained his decision to put duties on Japanese goods in a trade dispute.
In the full five-minute statement the then president said he had been “loth to take” the decision to put tariffs on Japan but had been forced to do so to hold it to its “trade agreement with us on electronic devices called semiconductors”.
Reagan then gives a lengthy warning of the dangers of trade protectionism, describing how it contributed to the misery of the Great Depression in the 1930s.
“High tariffs inevitably lead to retaliation by foreign countries and the triggering of fierce trade wars,” he said. “Then the worst happens: markets shrink and collapse, businesses and industries shut down and millions of people lose their jobs.”
