An commercial launched in the USA by Canada’s largest province that includes former US President Ronald Reagan has set off new tensions between Washington and Ottawa, which already had icy relations over President Donald Trump’s tariff coverage.
In a publish on Fact Social on Thursday night time, Trump claimed that the commercial – which exhibits Reagan, a fellow Republican, talking negatively about tariffs as an financial coverage – was “pretend”. He cited feedback by the Ronald Reagan Basis that described the clip of the previous president used within the industrial as doctored.
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Trump additionally mentioned the commercial was aimed toward influencing US courts.
“Primarily based on their egregious conduct, ALL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED,” Trump wrote.
Why is the commercial creating tensions between the US and Canada? Right here’s what we all know:
What was the commercial aired by Ontario?
On October 14, Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario, mentioned his province would spend 75 million Canadian {dollars} (US$54m) to run anti-tariff ads on mainstream channels within the US.
Ford has been a critic of Trump’s tariff coverage, and Ontario, recognized for its metal trade, has been severely hit by the US levies. Ontario is house to greater than a 3rd of Canada’s inhabitants and the nation’s largest metropolis, Toronto.
On October 16, Ford posted the advert on his X account and mentioned Canada will “by no means cease making the case in opposition to American tariffs”.
The minute-long advert options remarks by Reagan from a nationwide handle in April 1987 about free and honest commerce. In that speech, Reagan spoke of tariffs he had lately imposed on Japan, on the time a serious financial rival, earlier than arguing that such duties have been at finest a short-term repair.
“When somebody says, ‘Let’s impose tariffs on international imports,’ it appears like they’re doing the patriotic factor by defending American merchandise and jobs. And typically, for a short time, it really works, however just for a short while,” Reagan is heard saying within the advert. His remarks play over visuals just like the New York Inventory Alternate, farm fields and cranes that includes US and Canadian flags.
“Over the long term, such commerce boundaries damage each American, employee and shopper,” Reagan says.
“Excessive tariffs inevitably result in retaliation by international nations and the triggering of fierce commerce wars. … Markets shrink and collapse, companies and industries shut down and hundreds of thousands of individuals lose their jobs,” Reagan provides.
It’s official: Ontario’s new promoting marketing campaign within the U.S. has launched.
Utilizing each software we’ve, we’ll by no means cease making the case in opposition to American tariffs on Canada. The best way to prosperity is by working collectively.
Watch our new advert. pic.twitter.com/SgIVC1cqMJ
— Doug Ford (@fordnation) October 16, 2025
Based on Canadian media experiences, Ford calls himself a fan of Reagan, and his workplace mentioned the anti-tariff advert will seem on US platforms like Bloomberg and Fox Information by the top of October. His workplace added that the commercial seeks to focus on Republican voters within the US who will perceive the affect of tariffs after they hear the previous president’s voice.
Is the commercial pretend?
In a publish on X late on Thursday, nonetheless, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Basis & Institute, which advances Reagan’s legacy and rules, mentioned the advert by Ontario was edited.
“The advert misrepresents the Presidential Radio Deal with, and the Authorities of Ontario didn’t search nor obtain permission to make use of and edit the remarks,” the institute mentioned within the publish, which included a hyperlink to Reagan’s unique handle.
The institute didn’t clarify how precisely the speech was misrepresented however added that it was reviewing authorized choices to take care of the matter.
Al Jazeera reviewed the textual content of the unique speech because it seems on the web site of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum. It contains all of the statements Reagan is heard saying in his radio handle.
However the feedback within the commercial don’t seem in the identical sequence as Reagan’s speech. As an alternative, Ford’s crew seems to have patched collectively totally different sections of Reagan’s speech to make their argument stronger and make it move higher.
As an illustration, within the commercial, Reagan is heard saying about tariffs: “And typically, for a short time, it really works, however just for a short while. Over the long term, such commerce boundaries damage each American, employee and shopper. Excessive tariffs inevitably result in retaliation by international nations and the triggering of fierce commerce wars. Then the worst occurs: Markets shrink and collapse, companies and industries shut down, and hundreds of thousands of individuals lose their jobs.”
Within the precise handle, Reagan made the remark about commerce boundaries hurting Individuals in the long term within the introductory a part of his speech. He talked about how tariffs assist just for a “quick time” a lot later within the speech. The remark about retaliatory steps taken by different nations is available in a unique phase of the speech.
And the sentence about markets shrinking and hundreds of thousands dropping their jobs is available in one more a part of the handle.
Though Reagan’s unique feedback seem to have been edited and spliced collectively by the Ontario premier’s crew, the commercial seems honest to the thrust of Reagan’s message – that tariffs, if wielded as an financial weapon, have to be used solely sparingly and for a short while, or they will damage Individuals.
Hearken to President Reagan’s unedited remarks right here: https://t.co/1gQUcbR4eZ pic.twitter.com/iqmjSuypp0
— Ronald Reagan Presidential Basis & Institute (@RonaldReagan) October 24, 2025
Why has Trump ended commerce talks over the advert?
Trump mentioned the commercial is Canada’s means of making an attempt “to intervene with the choice of the US Supreme Court docket, and different courts”.
After coming into workplace in January, Trump imposed tariffs on imports from many nations all over the world, saying he sought to punish nations with whom the US runs commerce deficits, increase US authorities revenues and rebuild US manufacturing.
His administration initially imposed a 25 % tariff on most Canadian items, exempting solely merchandise lined by a free commerce settlement that exists between Canada, the US and Mexico from Trump’s first time period.
Then in August, Trump raised the tariffs on Canada to 35 %, alleging that Ottawa was not doing sufficient to cease the move of fentanyl into the US. The Canadian government in July, however, identified that “the volumes of fentanyl shifting from Canada into the US are negligible.” The federal government famous that in accordance with information from US Customs and Border Patrol, since 2022, “about one tenth of 1 % of fentanyl seizures are attributed to the Northern US Border or crossing into the US from Canada.”
Moreover tariffs, the US president has additionally repeatedly threatened to annex Canada. In February, he mentioned if Canada turned the 51st US state, it will assist Canadians. “The folks would pay a lot much less tax than they’re paying proper now. They’d have good navy safety,” he instructed reporters in Washington, DC, whereas signing a memorandum on tariffs.
Negotiations between Canada and the US to safe a commerce deal had been occurring for months. The Ontario commercial additionally comes at a time when the US Supreme Court docket is poised to resolve on the legality of Trump’s international tariffs regime in November. An appellate court docket had earlier declared them unlawful. If the highest court docket finds that Trump doesn’t have the facility to implement such tariffs, then the US authorities might need to refund corporations who’ve been paying the customs duties since they got here into impact.
Moreover Canada, Chinese language officers have additionally shared Reagan’s 1987 tariffs speech on social media after Trump introduced the penalties on a number of nations in April.
What does this imply for future US-Canada commerce?
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Ford haven’t but commented on Trump’s announcement on Thursday of ending commerce talks over the Reagan commercial.
Ian Lesser, a distinguished fellow and head of The German Marshall Fund of the USA (GMF)’s Brussels workplace, mentioned Trump’s response to the commercial is probably going as a lot about his extremely personalised method to worldwide coverage as it’s about commerce coverage.
“The US-Canada relationship is enormously necessary to each side in financial, safety and people-to-people phrases. The present friction and extremely damaging ambiance is unprecedented for a relationship of such structural significance,” he instructed Al Jazeera.
“It’s partly about coverage variations on commerce and regulatory issues, however it’s more and more a couple of strident fashion and its impact on Canadian public opinion,” he mentioned, including that public opinion in Canada has turned very damaging in the direction of the US and Trump.
“This creates an atmosphere by which the discourse between Washington and Ottawa can also be very a lot about home politics, particularly on the Canadian facet,” he added.
Furthermore, this isn’t the primary time commerce talks between Canada and the US have stalled.
On June 27, after Canada announced it was going to impose its Digital Companies Tax (DST) on US companies, Trump known as the Canadian tax a “direct and blatant assault”. He additional wrote on his Fact Social platform: “Primarily based on this egregious Tax, we’re hereby terminating ALL discussions on Commerce with Canada, efficient instantly.”
Canada’s Digital Companies Tax Act got here into impact in June 2024, and below it, Canada might cost a tax of three % on the digital providers income a agency makes from Canadian customers above 20 million Canadian {dollars} (US$14.6m) in a calendar yr.
Simply two days after Trump’s announcement, Canadian Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne mentioned in a press release that Ottawa would rescind the DST on US corporations to help commerce negotiations with Washington.
Canada is among the many high US buying and selling companions, and greater than 77 % of Canada’s exports go to the US. According to the Workplace of the US Commerce Consultant, US items and providers commerce with Canada totalled US$909.1bn in 2024.
However US tariffs have significantly affected Canada’s metal and aluminium sector.
“In areas the place we compete, we’ve to come back to an settlement that works,” Carney instructed journalists after a meeting with Trump on the White Home this month as he sought to realize a commerce deal and scale back tariffs on Canadian items.
Any such settlement now appears distant.
