Trump halts all trade talks with Canada over ad featuring Ronald Reagan

(Patria) - US President Donald Trump announced that he is halting all trade negotiations between the United States and Canada after the government of Canada's most populous province, Ontario, aired an advertisement in which former US President Ronald Reagan speaks negatively about tariffs.

Trump's announcement followed a report from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute stating that the Ontario government's advertisement distorts a radio address Reagan gave in April 1987 and that his statements were edited without permission.

The foundation did not specify what was misleading but encouraged people to listen to the unedited video of Reagan's speech on their YouTube channel.

"The Reagan Foundation just put out that Canada used a fraudulent ad, that is FAKE, where Ronald Reagan is talking negatively about tariffs. The ad was $75,000,000. They did this only to interfere with the Supreme Court of the U.S. and other courts.

TARIFFs ARE VERY IMPORTANT TO U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY AND THE ECONOMY. Based on their outrageous behavior, ALL TRADE TALKS WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DJT", Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced on October 14 that the province would spend $75 million on advertisements to be aired in the United States, featuring Reagan criticizing tariffs. "And we're going to repeat that message to every Republican district across the country," Ford stated, calling himself a "big fan of Ronald Reagan."

Ford shared the advertisement on X on October 16.

In the advertisement, Reagan can be heard saying: "When somebody says 'Let's put tariffs on foreign imports,' it sounds like they're doing a patriotic thing by protecting American products and jobs. And it sometimes works, but only for a short time. But in the long run, such trade barriers hurt every American worker and consumer."