(LifeSiteNews) – President Donald Trump terminated trade negotiations with Canada over the weekend and increased tariffs on trade with America’s northern neighbor by an additional 10% in retaliation for an advertising campaign launched by the government of Ontario contrasting Trump’s stance with that of U.S. President Ronald Reagan.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford first unveiled the minute-long ad to U.S. audiences on October 16, declaring, “(u)sing every tool we have, we’ll never stop making the case against American tariffs on Canada. The way to prosperity is by working together.” The ad played during several World Series baseball games.
It’s official: Ontario’s new advertising campaign in the U.S. has launched.
Using every tool we have, we’ll never stop making the case against American tariffs on Canada. The way to prosperity is by working together.
Watch our new ad. pic.twitter.com/SgIVC1cqMJ
— Doug Ford (@fordnation) October 16, 2025
The ad features audio from the late conservative leader’s April 25, 1987 “Radio Address to the Nation on Free and Fair Trade from Camp David, Maryland” (full video, full transcript), in which he argues that “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,” but the benefits are short-lived, and the long-term end result of sustained high tariffs is that “(m)arkets shrink and collapse; businesses and industries shut down; and millions of people lose their jobs.”
On October 23, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute, which oversees Reagan’s presidential library, issued a statement claiming (without elaboration) that the ad “misrepresents the Presidential Radio Address,” objecting that Ontario “did not seek nor receive permission to use and edit the remarks,” saying it is “reviewing its legal options,” and encouraging the public to listen to the full address. Reuse permission was not legally required, and the only condition placed on usage was a request to credit the Reagan Library, which the ad did.
Nevertheless, the Reagan Foundation post caught the attention of Trump, who that night posted on his personal social network Truth Social an announcement that he had “TERMINATED” all trade negotiations with Canada in response:
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. 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! President DJT
The next day, Trump posted again:
CANADA CHEATED AND GOT CAUGHT!!!They fraudulently took a big buy ad saying that Ronald Reagan did not like Tariffs, when actually he LOVED TARIFFS FOR OUR COUNTRY, AND ITS NATIONAL SECURITY. Canada is trying to illegally influence the United States Supreme Court in one of the most important rulings in the history of our Country. Canada has long cheated on Tariffs, charging our farmers as much as 400%. Now they, and other countries, can’t take advantage of the U.S. any longer. Thank you to the Ronald Reagan Foundation for exposing this FRAUD. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”
The president posted a third time on October 25, covering much the same ground but this time also announcing he was “increasing the Tariff on Canada by 10% over and above what they are paying now”:
Canada was caught, red handed, putting up a fraudulent advertisement on Ronald Reagan’s Speech on Tariffs. The Reagan Foundation said that they, “created an ad campaign using selective audio and video of President Ronald Reagan. The ad misrepresents the Presidential Radio Address,” and “did not seek nor receive permission to use and edit the remarks. The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute is reviewing its legal options in this matter.” The sole purpose of this FRAUD was Canada’s hope that the United States Supreme Court will come to their “rescue” on Tariffs that they have used for years to hurt the United States. Now the United States is able to defend itself against high and overbearing Canadian Tariffs (and those from the rest of the World as well!). Ronald Reagan LOVED Tariffs for purposes of National Security and the Economy, but Canada said he didn’t! Their Advertisement was to be taken down, IMMEDIATELY, but they let it run last night during the World Series, knowing that it was a FRAUD. Because of their serious misrepresentation of the facts, and hostile act, I am increasing the Tariff on Canada by 10% over and above what they are paying now. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
Asked about the matter outside the White House on October 24, Trump reiterated his grievances again, this time adding, “I guess it was AI or something.”
Trump: “They cheated on a commercial. Ronald Reagan loved tariffs and they said he didn’t. And I guess it was AI or something. They cheated badly. Canada got caught cheating on a commercial. Can you believe it?” pic.twitter.com/3EzUEsDbxW
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 25, 2025
The 40th president’s words in the Ontario ad were not fabricated by artificial intelligence and accurately represent Reagan’s overall support for free trade and opposition to high tariffs as the norm, a stance Reagan forcefully articulated in the full 1987 address and elsewhere. Trump himself has previously acknowledged that he differs with Reagan on the issue, calling him “very bad on trade” as recently as March 2025.
The basis for the critique of the Ontario ad as misleading is that it does not include the portion of the speech where Reagan announced “new duties on some Japanese products in response to Japan’s inability to enforce their trade agreement with us on electronic devices called semiconductors,” a measure he said he was “loath to take” because it conflicted with his overall view, but considered a “special case.”
Trump supporters argue the missing detail proves Reagan and Trump are aligned after all in their willingness to use tariffs to pursue the national interest, while defenders of the ad maintain that Reagan’s use of tariffs as temporary tools in specific instances is fundamentally different from Trump’s vision of tariffs as a permanent, widely used mechanism for “balanced” trade and revenue generation.
On Friday, Ford announced the ad would be pulled, claiming Ontario has “achieved our goal” to “initiate a conversation” by “having reached U.S. audiences at the highest levels.”
On November 5, the U.S. Supreme Court is slated to begin hearing oral arguments over whether or not Trump had the lawful authority to unilaterally issue most of his tariffs, which were justified on various “national emergency” grounds under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977.
