The premier of Canada’s most populous province said Friday he will withdraw the anti-tariff commercial that caused US President Donald Trump to end trade talks with the United States’ northern neighbor.
After talking with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said in a statement, posted on social media, he has decided to “pause” the advertising campaign “effective Monday so that trade talks can resume.”
What was the ad that had angered Trump?
Trump had previously declared an ending to “all trade negotiations” with Canada because of a television commercial sponsored by Ontario that used the words of former US President Ronald Reagan to criticize US tariffs.
“We’ve achieved our goal, having reached US audiences at the highest levels,” Ford said in a statement posted on X.
“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 the television advertisement would continue through this weekend, including during the first World Series games between the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers.
“I’ve directed my team to keep putting our message in front of Americans over the weekend so that we can air our commercial during the first two World Series games,” Ford said.
On Thursday Trump said, “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 commercial on Friday, accusing Canada of trying to manipulate an upcoming US Supreme Court ruling on his global tariff regime.
The now pulled commercial features the voice of former US President Ronald Reagan talking about the disadvantages of trade tariffs, in excerpts from a 1987 address broadcast on radio.
The Republican president, who died in 2004, made the address to explain why he decided to impose tariffs on some Japanese products.
In the five-minute address the then president said he had been “loth to take” the decision to impose tariffs on Japan but had been forced to do so to hold it to its “trade agreement with us on electronic devices called semiconductors.”
Why does Trump want to impose tariffs?
Trump has made frequent use of global tariffs since his second term in office began in January of this year.
Trump argues that the tariffs will boost United States manufacturing and create jobs, but critics warn of higher prices and damage to the global economy.
French winemakers feel the squeeze of Trump’s tariffs
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Edited by: Roshni Majumdar
