President Donald Trump announced on Thursday night that he is terminating all US trade negotiations with Canada, a stunning move he says is in direct response to a television ad from the Ontario provincial government that featured former President Ronald Reagan speaking negatively about tariffs.
The president’s decision, announced on his Truth Social platform, is a significant and abrupt escalation in a long-running trade dispute and comes just weeks before the US Supreme Court is set to hear a pivotal case on the legality of his tariff regime.
The controversy began after The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute stated that the ad, which was part of a $75 million campaign launched by Ontario Premier Doug Ford, “misrepresents” a radio address Reagan delivered in 1987.
The foundation said the former president’s remarks were edited without permission and encouraged the public to listen to the unedited version.
President Trump seized on the foundation’s complaint.
“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 wrote.
He went on to accuse the Canadian government of a far more serious offense, claiming the ad was a deliberate attempt to influence the American judicial system.
“They only did this to interfere with the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, and other courts,” he wrote.
All trade negotiations are ‘hereby terminated’
The president concluded his post with a decisive and unambiguous declaration.
“TARIFFS ARE VERY IMPORTANT TO THE NATIONAL SECURITY, AND ECONOMY, OF THE U.S.A. Based on their egregious behavior, ALL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED,” Trump wrote.
Thank you for your attention to this matter!
The ad in question features audio from Reagan’s 1987 address, in which he is heard saying, “When someone says, ‘Let’s impose tariffs on foreign imports,’ it looks like they’re doing the patriotic thing… But over the long run, such trade barriers hurt every American worker and consumer.”
Ontario Premier Doug Ford, a self-described “big Ronald Reagan fan,” had said the ad campaign was designed to repeat that message in every Republican district in the United States.
The abrupt termination of talks now casts a long shadow over the future of the US-Canada trade relationship, a partnership that has been under increasing strain since Trump made tariffs a centerpiece of his second term in the White House.
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