Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney formally apologized to the United States on Saturday for an ad featuring former US President Ronald Reagan that angered Donald Trump and halted tariff talks with Canada.
Carney confirmed the apology while speaking to reporters after attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in South Korea.
“I have apologized to the president,” Carney said. The comments confirmed comments Trump made on Friday.
Carney said he had reviewed and objected to the ad before it aired.
The ad was presented by Ontario Premier Doug Ford and featured Reagan’s voice talking about the harms of trade tariffs in excerpts from a 1987 address broadcast on radio.
The then-Republican president, who died in 2004, gave the address to explain why he decided to impose tariffs on certain Japanese products.
Angered by the ad, Trump announced he was ending “all trade negotiations” with Canada.
“I told Ford I didn’t want to move forward with the ad,” Carney told reporters.
Trump and Carney share ‘very nice’ conversation
Trump told reporters he had a “very good” conversation with Carney at a dinner during the summit in South Korea, but did not elaborate.
Despite the apology, Trump still said that the United States and Canada would not resume trade negotiations.
Meanwhile, Carney on Saturday played down tensions, saying he was unsure when talks would resume.
“Despite all the noise this week, Canada still has the best trade deal with the United States of any country,” Carney said.
He said, “We can spend our time watching Truth Social worrying about the reactions of individuals. We want peace.”
The Canadian Prime Minister insisted, “We will wait until they are ready.”
Edited by: Srinivas Majumdaru