The premier of Canada’s most populous province said Friday he will withdraw the anti-tariff ad that led U.S. President Donald Trump to end trade talks with the United States’ northern neighbor.
After speaking with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said in a statement posted on social media, he has decided to “pause” the ad campaign “effective Monday” so that trade talks can resume.
What was the ad that angered Trump?
Trump had previously announced an end to “all trade negotiations” with Canada due to a television advertisement sponsored by Ontario that used the words of former US President Ronald Reagan to criticize US tariffs.
“We achieved our goal by reaching the American audience at the highest level,” Ford said in a statement posted on Twitter.
“Our intention was always to start a conversation about what kind of economy Americans want to build and what impact tariffs will have on workers and businesses.”
Ford said the television advertising will continue through this weekend, including during the first World Series games between the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers.
Ford said, “I have instructed my team to get our message in front of Americans over the weekend so that we can air our advertising during the first two World Series games.”
On Thursday, Trump said, “The Ronald Reagan Foundation has just announced that Canada has fraudulently used an advertisement, which is fake, in which Ronald Reagan is talking negatively about tariffs.”
Trump doubled down on his criticism of the ad on Friday, accusing Canada of trying to manipulate an upcoming U.S. Supreme Court decision on its global tariff regime.
The now-pulled ad features the voice of former US President Ronald Reagan talking about the loss of trade tariffs in excerpts from a 1987 address broadcast on radio.
The Republican president, who died in 2004, gave the address to explain why he decided to impose tariffs on certain Japanese products.
In a five-minute address the then-President said he was “very interested” in making the decision to impose tariffs on Japan, but was forced to do so in order to preserve “the 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 began in January 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.
Edited by: Roshni Majumdar