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President Donald Trump said Thursday that trade negotiations with Canada have been terminated after a Canadian political advertisement used a recording of the late President Ronald Reagan criticizing tariffs, calling the video “fraudulent.”
“The Ronald Reagan Foundation has just announced that Canada has fraudulently used an advertisement, which is FAKE, featuring Ronald Reagan speaking negatively about Tariffs. The ad was for $75,000,000. They only did this to interfere with the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, and other courts,” the president wrote on Truth Social.
“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. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” he added.
The president, who earlier this year imposed tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminum and autos, said the ad misrepresented President Reagan’s remarks and amounted to political interference. The two countries had been in talks for weeks to resolve their ongoing trade dispute over those industries.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said the advertisement, produced by his provincial government and released more than a week ago, had drawn Trump’s attention. “I heard that the president heard our ad. I’m sure he wasn’t too happy,” Ford said Tuesday.
The ad features Reagan’s voice, drawn from his 1987 Presidential Radio Address, spliced together to suggest opposition to tariffs. In the clip, 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.”
He also warns that “over the long run, such trade barriers hurt every American worker and consumer,” and that trade wars cause “markets [to] shrink and collapse; businesses and industries [to] shut down; and millions of people [to] lose their jobs.”
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation said the advertisement used “selective audio and video” and that it was reviewing legal options.
“The ad misrepresents the Presidential Radio Address [by Reagan in 1987], and the Government of Ontario did not seek nor receive permission to use and edit the remarks,” the foundation said in a statement.
The full address from Reagan had emphasized that the tariffs his administration placed on Japan were an exception to his broader commitment to free trade, which he described as vital to long-term prosperity.