House leader and Minister of Transport Steven MacKinnon rises in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on Thursday. (Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press)
Liberal House leader
Steven MacKinnon says the government does not have enough votes at the
moment to pass the upcoming federal budget — and he’s pressing
opposition parties to consider whether they want another election.
“As we speak right now, we don’t have the votes,” MacKinnon said in an interview on Rosemary Barton Live
airing Sunday morning. He acknowledged Canada has a minority government
but argued the Liberals have a mandate to move “this country forward
economically.”
The Liberal government will need the co-operation
of at least one other party in order to pass the budget, which is being
tabled on Nov. 4. Because the budget is a confidence vote, Canadians
could be facing another election if it doesn’t pass.
“The
opposition parties will have to determine whether the differences
between us are sufficiently large to cause the Canadians to go to the
polls,” MacKinnon told host Rosemary Barton. “We would be reluctant to
go to the polls.”
Transforming Canadian economy will take 'some sacrifices' and 'some time,' Carney says
October 22 |
Duration 1:29
Prime
Minister Mark Carney, delivering a speech to university students in
Ottawa on Wednesday night, said his government will work 'relentlessly'
to cut waste and when they have to make difficult decisions, they will
be 'thoughtful, transparent and fair.’
Conservative
Leader Pierre Poilievre is demanding an “affordable budget” from the
Liberals that includes broad tax cuts and keeps the deficit under $42
billion. He also wants Canada to ditch its industrial carbon tax.
MacKinnon
said Poilievre has put forward demands “he already knows are
unattainable” and the Conservative leader wants to subtract “hundreds of
billions of dollars of revenue from the federal government, so that’s
pretty hard to square.”
Meanwhile, Bloc Québécois Leader
Yves-François Blanchet is demanding an increase to the federal health
transfer to the provinces, new infrastructure investment, an expansion
of the rapid housing initiative and boosting Old Age Security payments
for those ages 65 to 75.
At the beginning of October — before meeting with Carney — Blanchet blasted the Liberals, saying there were no consultations and “no legitimacy to this budget.”
MacKinnon
criticized those comments from Blanchet and said, “coming from someone
with 22 seats in a 343-seat House of Commons, that’s a little rich.”
However,
the Liberal House leader sounded more friendly to NDP Leader Don
Davies. He told Barton he would not lump Davies in with the other
opposition leaders because the NDP have been more constructive in their
feedback.
WATCH | Poilievre speaks with reporters after meeting with prime minister:
‘He didn’t make any commitments,' says Poilievre after meeting with Carney on budget
October 22 |
Duration 4:59
After
meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney to discuss the upcoming federal
budget, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said they had 'a good
conversation.' Poilievre said he was 'looking forward to seeing what he
comes up with,' adding that he 'reiterated that we need this to be an
affordable budget.'
“I have no idea what
the NDP intends to do with respect to its votes on the budget. That’ll
obviously be up to their caucus and to their party. But again, the math
is pretty clear. We don’t have a majority,” MacKinnon said.
When
pressed by Barton whether it's the Liberals’ job to find that support,
MacKinnon said conversations continue to happen with opposition parties
and “we’re getting their input.”
“But we believe we have a mandate, and at the end of the day, some hard choices are going to have to be made.”
Carney laying groundwork for steep budget
Over
the week, Carney has been laying the groundwork for the budget, which
is expected to be costly as the Liberal government tries to strengthen
Canada’s economy in the face of punishing U.S. tariffs.
After
meeting with opposition party leaders, Carney told a group of university
students Wednesday night that Canadians should be ready for some
“challenges” and “sacrifices,” but “if we don’t act now, the pressures
will only grow.”
WATCH | NDP will wait until the budget is tabled next month, Davies says:
Davies says no discussions had with Liberals on exchanges for budget support
October 21 |
Duration 1:56
NDP
interim leader Don Davies has dismissed reports that his party would
negotiate with the Liberal government for budget support as ‘simply not
true.’ He said the NDP will wait until the budget is tabled next month
before deciding to back it.
“I will always
be straight about the challenges that we have to face and the choices we
must make. And to be clear, we won’t transform our economy easily or in
a few months — it will take some sacrifices and it will take some
time."
MacKinnon acknowledged that Canada will need to make hard
choices “on the government operation side” and it won’t be able to do
everything it would like so it can do more “on the investment side.”
“We
must make our supply chains better so that we can diversify markets
away from the United States and send our products and our expertise both
east and west,” MacKinnon said.
“So we’ll be investing massively
on that side, but we will be making hard choices on the spending side
and that’s the kind of budget that this prime minister I think has
described since he’s been sworn in.”
Benjamin
Lopez Steven is an associate producer for CBC's The House and a digital
writer with CBC Politics. He was also a 2024 Joan Donaldson Scholar and
a graduate of Carleton University. You can reach him at
benjamin.steven@cbc.ca or find him on Twitter at @bensteven_s.
Chief
political correspondent Rosemary Barton speaks with Liberal House
leader Steven MacKinnon about how the terminated trade talks with the
U.S. will impact the Canadian economy, and what it means ahead of the
upcoming budget. Plus, Canadian parent Zach Robichaud talks about the
financial pressures facing young families ahead of the federal
government's budget in November. And on the Sunday Scrum, Globe and Mail
reporter Ian Bailey, CBC Radio’s The House host Catherine Cullen and
Toronto Star’s Queen’s Park bureau chief Robert Benzie discuss what
challenges it could face getting through a minority Parliament.
CBC’s chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton delivers a weekly dose of need-to-know political news and issues affecting Canadians, tackling the latest headlines through the lens of people living them.
U.S.
President Donald Trump claims an Ontario government ad that uses the
words of late U.S. president Ronald Reagan to send an anti-tariff
message to American audiences is fake. (Mark Schiefelbein/The Associated Press, Carlos Osorio/The Canadian Press)
Although U.S.
President Donald Trump has shredded Canada-U.S. trade talks over an
Ontario government anti-tariff advertisement, Canadian politicians all
the way from the municipal to the federal level are backing Ontario
Premier Doug Ford’s approach and won’t say the ad was a mistake.
“I support the premier’s approach,” Brampton, Ont., Mayor Patrick Brown said in an interview on Rosemary Barton Live on Sunday. “Sometimes you need to throw a rock in a pond to get a splash. He’s got a reaction. It’s got a lot of coverage.”
“I’m glad our premier had the courage to call out the U.S. president on inconsistencies,” Brown told host Rosemary Barton.
Ontario’s
advertisement uses the late U.S. president Ronald Reagan's own words to
send an anti-tariff message to American audiences.
It appears to
have struck a nerve with U.S. President Donald Trump, who first cut off
trade negotiations with Canada on Thursday evening over the
advertisement and then promised to increase “the Tariff on Canada” by 10
per cent on Saturday afternoon.
WATCH | What Canada's next play with U.S. trade talks? Politicians, journalists weigh in:
What will get Canada-U.S. trade talks back on track?
October 26 |
Duration 27:21
Chief
political correspondent Rosemary Barton discusses where trade talks go
after Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s U.S. ad, with the Sunday Scrum panel
of Globe and Mail reporter Ian Bailey, CBC Radio’s The House host
Catherine Cullen and Toronto Star’s Queen’s Park bureau chief Robert
Benzie. Plus, P.E.I. Premier Rob Lantz, former Canadian ambassador to
the U.S. Frank McKenna and Justin Trudeau’s former deputy chief of
staff, Brian Clow, join the show to discuss trade negotiations.
Trump
claims the ad is fraudulent and fake. The president and his advisers
have also argued Canada is trying to influence an upcoming U.S. Supreme
Court case which will decide whether U.S. tariffs that Trump imposed on
Canada for national security purposes were constitutional.
In an interview on Face The Nation
airing Sunday morning on CBS, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said
Ford "seems to have come off the rails a little" and argued that the
advertisement is “interference in U.S. sovereign matters."
B.C. Minister of Forests Ravi Parmar told Barton on Sunday he thinks Ontario’s ad was effective and it “woke the president up.”
Parmer
also said his government will run its own anti-tariff ads next month to
defend British Columbia's forestry industry, but it won’t be as
expansive as Ford’s ad campaign.
“We certainly appreciate the hard
work that Premier Ford is doing. We’re going to be very measured in our
approach,” Parmar said.
WATCH | B.C. economic growth minister explains why his province will run anti-tariff ads:
B.C. minister speaks on plan to run anti-Trump tariff ads
October 24 |
Duration 5:07
B.C.
will run anti-tariff ads in some U.S. states in November, despite
President Donald Trump saying he will terminate trade negotiations with
Canada over similar ads out of Ontario. B.C. economic growth minister
Ravi Kahlon said "speaking directly to U.S. citizens is important."
Prince
Edward Island Premier Rob Lantz said on Sunday that Ford “has been a
very strong voice for Ontario” and very effective at communicating
Canadians’ frustrations with the tariffs.
“His ad was very clever,” Lantz said. “But he’s decided to pull it and I respect that and now we can continue to move forward.”
At
the federal level, Liberal House leader Steven MacKinnon said in an
interview that aired Sunday morning “Doug Ford’s on Team Canada. He’s
maybe our first line setter. He’s been an incredible patriot.”
MacKinnon, who spoke with Barton before Trump’s latest tariff threat, added that he’s “loath to criticize” Ford for anything.
WATCH | Liberal House leader discusses upcoming budget, Canada-U.S. trade blowup:
Government House leader says ‘hard choices’ are necessary in the upcoming federal budget
October 26 |
Duration 22:28
Chief
political correspondent Rosemary Barton speaks with Liberal House
leader Steven MacKinnon about how the terminated trade talks with the
U.S. will impact the Canadian economy, and what it means ahead of the
upcoming budget. Plus, Canadian parent Zach Robichaud talks about the
financial pressures facing young families ahead of the federal
government's budget in November. And on the Sunday Scrum, Globe and Mail
reporter Ian Bailey, CBC Radio’s The House host Catherine Cullen and
Toronto Star’s Queen’s Park bureau chief Robert Benzie discuss what
challenges it could face getting through a minority Parliament.
On
Friday, Ford said he will pull the ad from U.S. screens after this
weekend. The ad aired during Saturday night's World Series game, meaning
millions more Americans saw the clip since it first began running in
mid-October.
In a statement posted to social media that day,
Ford said his province’s intention “was always to initiate a
conversation about the kind of economy that Americans want to build and
the impact of tariffs on workers and businesses.”
“We’ve achieved our goal, having reached U.S. audiences at the highest levels.”
So what does Canada do next?
As
things stand, Canada must now navigate how to get U.S. discussions back
on track and stave off Trump’s latest tariff threat. Despite the
president’s social media post, it remains unclear whether he’s actually
followed through on the promise or will follow through later.
“Ontario’s
now done the thing that the president wants,” Clow said. “The ad will
be pulled in the next 24 hours. So that gives the prime minister
something positive to say to Donald Trump.”
WATCH | U.S. Democratic senator says Trump's 'temper tantrum' will blow over eventually:
U.S. senator says it's 'embarrassing' to have a president 'who lets an ad rattle him so deeply'
October 26 |
Duration 8:42
In a Canadian exclusive interview, chief political correspondent
Rosemary Barton speaks with U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine about U.S. President
Donald Trump terminating trade talks over an ad by the Ontario
government featuring a voiceover and clip from former Republican
president Ronald Reagan.
In his social
media post Saturday afternoon, Trump argued the “Advertisement was to be
taken down, IMMEDIATELY, but they let it run last night during the
World Series, knowing it was a FRAUD.”
Frank McKenna, a former
Canadian ambassador to the United States, said on Sunday it’s possible
Canada was getting too close to a deal and Trump wanted to “push us off
the puck a bit.”
One
of Carney’s objectives on this Southeast Asia trip is seeking out
stronger trade ties with countries in the region to ease Canada’s
reliance on U.S. trade. McKenna said the prime minister is “doing the
right things” to push the U.S. to acknowledge how much it needs Canadian
trade.
Likewise,
Brown said Carney has been collaborative with the United States “but at
some point, if we don’t have a partner in these trade talks, you can’t
get a deal done. And you have to look at other alternatives.”
Benjamin
Lopez Steven is an associate producer for CBC's The House and a digital
writer with CBC Politics. He was also a 2024 Joan Donaldson Scholar and
a graduate of Carleton University. You can reach him at
benjamin.steven@cbc.ca or find him on Twitter at @bensteven_s.
U.S. senator says it's 'embarrassing' to have a president 'who lets an ad rattle him so deeply'
4 hours ago |
Duration 8:42
In a Canadian exclusive interview, chief political correspondent
Rosemary Barton speaks with U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine about U.S. President
Donald Trump terminating trade talks over an ad by the Ontario
government featuring a voiceover and clip from former Republican
president Ronald Reagan.
Democratic Sen. Tim
Kaine of Virginia says U.S. President Donald Trump’s outrage toward
Canada over an anti-tariff advertisement by the Ontario government is “a
temper tantrum” that will blow over — but it’s embarrassing for the
United States.
“It’s just one more example of super childish behaviour by the president,” Kaine said in an exclusive Canadian interview on Rosemary Barton Live airing Sunday morning. “The ad was a very fair ad."
Canada’s
trade discussions with the U.S. have been plunged into peril after
Ontario aired an advertisement featuring audio clips by then-president
Ronald Reagan, who criticized tariffs during an address he delivered in
1987.
The advertisement appears to have deeply angered Trump, who blasted Canada on
“Their
Advertisement was to be taken down, IMMEDIATELY, but they let it run
last night during the World Series, knowing it was a FRAUD,” the U.S.
president said, further arguing that Reagan “LOVED” tariffs for national
security purposes and the economy.
WATCH | Trump claims Ontario fraudulently edited Reagan. Here's a closer look at the ad:
Why Trump just ‘terminated’ Canada-U.S. trade talks | About That
October 24 |
Duration 9:14
In
a late-night post on Truth Social, U.S. President Donald Trump called
off all trade negotiations with Canada. The problem, he said: An Ontario
government anti-tariff advertisement made 'fraudulent' use of the late
U.S. president Ronald Reagan’s speech. But was it actually fake? Andrew
Chang takes a closer look at the editing of the ad and breaks down why
Trump might have reacted the way he did.
Images provided by The Canadian Press, Reuters and Getty Images
Just
a few days earlier, Trump said he was terminating all trade discussions
with Canada over the advertisement, reiterating that it was fake and
fraudulent.
Kaine, who taped the interview with host Rosemary
Barton less than an hour before Trump’s 10 per cent tariff threat, said
the president’s trade war “is a self-inflicted wound on the American
economy. So we’ve got to get back to the table."
Trump’s anger
“won’t last," he said. "But it’s embarrassing for the United States that
we have a president who lets an ad rattle him so deeply.”
On
Friday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he will pull the advertisement
from U.S. screens after this weekend. The advertisement aired during
Saturday night's World Series game, meaning millions more Americans saw
the ad on their screens since it first began running in mid-October.
Kaine
said what will bring Trump and his team back to trade talks is “less
likely to be a Canadian negotiating move. What’s going to get them back
to the table is the undeniable economic reality.”
Kaine leading charge to end U.S. tariffs
Earlier this month, Kaine and some of his Senate colleagues, including Republican Sen. Rand Paul, introduced legislation to terminate the national emergency that Trump has invoked to justify his tariffs on Canada, Mexico and other countries.
Kaine
said when he challenged Canadian tariffs earlier this year in April —
an endeavour that ultimately failed — Republicans told him they
generally agree tariffs are bad but they weren’t sure if his prediction
of economic damage would be correct.
WATCH | Kaine rejects Trump's 'fake Canadian emergency':
Trump's tariffs based on 'fake Canadian emergency,' says U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine
April 1 |
Duration 12:22
The
U.S. Senate is set to vote Tuesday on a resolution from Democratic Sen.
Tim Kaine of Virginia to challenge U.S. President Donald Trump's use of
the International Economic Emergency Powers Act, to declare an
emergency at the northern border in order to hit Canada with tariffs.
“I
think we will get Republican senators on this vote in October, in
addition to the four Republicans who voted with us in April,” Kaine
said.
There’s
also a pending court case. Trump’s team has asked the U.S. Supreme
Court to overturn a ruling by the U.S. Federal Court of Appeals that
found Trump’s move to impose broad-based tariffs on Canada, Mexico and
dozens of other countries was unconstitutional.
Kaine
said that Trump "can be petulant, but the facts and the economic chaos
are closing in on him. And I think that will get the president back to
the table with Canada."
The court case appears to be on Trump’s
mind. In his Saturday afternoon post, the president claimed the sole
purpose of Canada’s “FRAUD” was hoping the Supreme Court will come to
the country’s rescue over his tariffs.
Trump official says Ford has ‘come off the rails a little’
In an interview on Face The Nation
airing Sunday morning on CBS, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said
Ford "seems to have come off the rails a little" and argued that the
advertisement is “interference in U.S. sovereign matters."
“It’s clearly damaged our relationship with the most populous province in Canada,” Bessent told host Margaret Brennan.
The
Ontario premier has not publicly commented yet on Trump’s latest tariff
threat. Prime Minister Mark Carney is currently in Southeast Asia
trying to strengthen Canada’s trade partnerships with countries in the
region.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks with reporters at the White House in Washington on Wednesday. (Alex Brandon/The Associated Press)
On
Sunday, at the opening of the ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,
Carney addressed leaders about the importance of “reliable partners who
honour their commitments."
In a press scrum afterwards, Carney
said that “the government of Canada stands ready to build on the
progress that we had been making in our negotiations, our discussions
with our American counterparts.”
“We
have a consistent focus in those discussions on doing the best deal for
Canadian workers and their families," he said. “It is the sole
responsibility of the government of Canada to have those discussions
with the United States, and it's the best way forward."
The
prime minister also said Canada intends to “more than double our
exports away from the United States over the course of the next decade."
CBC’s chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton delivers a weekly dose of need-to-know political news and issues affecting Canadians, tackling the latest headlines through the lens of people living them.
How should Canada respond to U.S. President Donald Trump’s move to terminate trade talks after seeing Ontario’s anti-tariff ad featuring former president Ronald Reagan? Two former Canadian ambassadors to the United States respond: Frank McKenna and Derek Burney.
Predictably petulant? Too Too Funny yet Oh So True
Methinks most political animals know I have no respect for Derek Burney and Frank McKenna whatsoever. However they do make me laugh at their constant BS. I bet many sheople laughed at this news in my stomping grounds before Trudeau The Younger won every seat in the Maritimes N'esy Pas?
Project aims to help mating moose move from New Brunswick into Nova Scotia
The Canadian Press · Posted: Mar 06, 2014 6:18 AM AST
The Nature Conservancy of Canada has received another 83 hectares of private land to help it promote cross-border moose love at the boundary of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
The land conservation group has been assembling parcels of land to form a corridor on the Chignecto Isthmus as part of its so-called Moose Sex Project.
To date, donations have come from a number of private landowners, including Derek Burney, the former Canadian ambassador to the United States.
Predictably petulant? Too Too Funny yet Oh So True
Methinks
most political animals know I have no respect for Derek Burney and
Frank McKenna whatsoever. However they do make me laugh at their
constant BS. I bet many sheople laughed at this news in my stomping
grounds before Trudeau The Younger won every seat in the Maritimes N'esy
Pas?
Project aims to help mating moose move from New Brunswick into Nova Scotia
The Canadian Press · Posted: Mar 06, 2014 6:18 AM AST
The
Nature Conservancy of Canada has received another 83 hectares of
private land to help it promote cross-border moose love at the boundary
of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
The land conservation group has been assembling parcels of land to form a
corridor on the Chignecto Isthmus as part of its so-called Moose Sex
Project.
To date, donations have come from a number of private landowners,
including Derek Burney, the former Canadian ambassador to the United
States.
Project aims to help mating moose move from New Brunswick into Nova Scotia
The Canadian Press ·
The
Nature Conservancy of Canada is trying to encourage more of the New
Brunswick moose population to cross over to neighbouring Nova Scotia and
find mates. (Associated Press)
The Nature
Conservancy of Canada has received another 83 hectares of private land
to help it promote cross-border moose love at the boundary of Nova
Scotia and New Brunswick.
The land conservation group has been
assembling parcels of land to form a corridor on the Chignecto Isthmus
as part of its so-called Moose Sex Project.
To
date, donations have come from a number of private landowners,
including Derek Burney, the former Canadian ambassador to the United
States.
The latest donation, announced on Thursday, is from Kenneth Lund and his late brother Daniel Lund of Sackville, N.B.
They
have provided wooded land along Route 16, about six kilometres from
Baie Verte, between the Missiquash Marsh and the Tintamarre National
Wildlife Area.
The project is aimed at encouraging the migration
of New Brunswick's healthy moose population into mainland Nova Scotia,
where the species has been endangered since 2003.
The
conservation group notes that in addition to moose, other mammals and
bird species such as Canada lynx, bobcat and northern goshawk can use
the corridor between the two Maritime provinces.
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters aboard Air Force One at Al Udeid Air Base in Doha, Qatar, Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025. (Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo)
U.S. President
Donald Trump has announced on social media he will be increasing “the
Tariff on Canada” by 10 per cent “over and above what they are paying
now" because of an advertisement by the Ontario government.
“Canada was caught, red handed, putting up a fraudulent advertisement on Ronald Reagan’s Speech on Tariffs,” Trump wrote on his platform Truth Social on Saturday afternoon.
“Their
Advertisement was to be taken down, IMMEDIATELY, but they let it run
last night during the World Series, knowing it was a FRAUD,” the U.S.
president added.
It’s
unclear at the moment which tariff, or tariffs, the U.S. president is
referring to. CBC News has reached out to the White House, the Prime
Minister’s Office and Ontario Premier Doug Ford's office for details.
Flavio
Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association and
member of the Prime Minister’s Council on Canada-U.S. Relations, said
on social media "to be clear, a TV commercial is about to cost American
consumers about $50B because [Trump's] mad."
Trump’s
announcement is the latest escalation over an Ontario government
advertisement that uses the late U.S. president Ronald Reagan's own
words to send an anti-tariff message to American audiences.
WATCH | Ontario's one-minute ad that uses Ronald Reagan's anti-tariff message:
See the anti-tariff ad Doug Ford has been airing in the U.S.
October 24 |
Duration 1:01
Ontario
Premier Doug Ford's government paid around $75 million to air this ad,
featuring remarks from former president Ronald Reagan, on U.S.
television stations — a move that has angered President Donald Trump.
On
Thursday night, Trump said he was terminating all trade discussions
with Canada over the advertisement, which he described then as
fraudulent and fake.
He continued that criticism in his Saturday
afternoon post, arguing that Reagan "LOVED" tariffs for national
security purposes and the economy.
Just before Trump cut off trade
talks, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute said
it took issue with the ad and claimed the Ontario government "did not
seek nor receive permission to use and edit the remark."
In an interview with CBC's The House
that aired Saturday morning, Derek Burney, former chief of staff to
prime minister Brian Mulroney, said it was Mulroney and Reagan's
commitment to free trade that helped the two men land an agreement
between Canada and the United States.
“The thing that drove it
home was the commitment from the president and prime minister. Nobody in
America is in any doubt about Ronald Reagan’s views on tariffs,” Burney
said.
WATCH | Trump claims Ontario fraudulently edited Reagan. Here's a closer look at the ad:
Why Trump just ‘terminated’ Canada-U.S. trade talks | About That
October 24 |
Duration 9:14
In
a late-night post on Truth Social, U.S. President Donald Trump called
off all trade negotiations with Canada. The problem, he said: An Ontario
government anti-tariff advertisement made 'fraudulent' use of the late
U.S. president Ronald Reagan’s speech. But was it actually fake? Andrew
Chang takes a closer look at the editing of the ad and breaks down why
Trump might have reacted the way he did.
Images provided by The Canadian Press, Reuters and Getty Images
Ford
said on Friday his government will pull the advertisement from U.S.
screens after this weekend, but millions more Americans are still
expected to view it during the World Series game tonight.
Candace
Laing, president and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said
"tariffs at any level remain a tax on America first, then North American
competitiveness as a whole."
"We
hope this threat of escalation can be resolved through diplomatic
channels and further negotiation.... A successful free trade zone is
fundamental for both our countries," Laing said in a statement to CBC
News.
Trump’s tariffs and the U.S. Supreme Court
In his
post, Trump also claimed the sole purpose of Canada’s “FRAUD” was hoping
the United States Supreme Court will come to the country’s rescue.
The
Trump administration has requested the Supreme Court overturn a ruling
by the U.S. Federal Court of Appeals that the president’s move to impose
broad-based tariffs on Canada, Mexico and dozens of other countries was
unconstitutional.
WATCH | 'It's not just about one ad,' says Trump economic adviser:
Canadians have been 'very difficult' to negotiate with on trade, Trump adviser says
October 24 |
Duration 0:51
Kevin
Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, told reporters in
Washington on Friday that U.S. President Donald Trump's social media
posts cutting off trade talks with Canada reveal 'his frustration with
the actions and postures of the Canadians through months of
negotiations.'
On
Thursday, Trump made a similar statement and claimed the Ontario ad was
designed to “interfere” with what he called “THE MOST IMPORTANT CASE
EVER.”
Carney in Malaysia to attend summit
Prime Minister
Mark Carney is currently in Malaysia in search of trade opportunities
with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Trump is
expected to arrive on Sunday.
The
prime minister has not yet publicly commented on Trump's latest
announcement. However, after the U.S. president announced he was
terminating trade talks with Canada, Carney gave a brief response to
reporters in Ottawa.
WATCH | Canada 'ready to pick up' on trade progress with the United States, says Carney:
'We stand ready' to talk trade with U.S., Carney says after Trump cuts off negotiations
October 24 |
Duration 1:35
Prime
Minister Mark Carney spoke Friday after President Donald Trump
announced the U.S. was cutting off trade talks with Canada. He said
Ottawa 'can’t control' the trade policy of the United States, but
stressed that his government is ready to talk — and ready to address
issues within Canada that are within Ottawa’s control.
“We
stand ready to pick up on that progress and build on that progress when
the Americans are ready to have those discussions because it will be
for the benefit of workers in the United States, workers in Canada and
families in both our countries,” the prime minister said.
Carney also said discussions had been moving forward in specific sectors on tariff relief, such as steel, aluminum and energy.
Dominic
LeBlanc, the minister responsible for Canada-U.S. trade, said on social
media that trade talks should be between officials from Washington and
Ottawa.
"Progress
is best achieved through direct engagement with the U.S. administration
— which is the responsibility of the federal government," LeBlanc said
on X.
Benjamin
Lopez Steven is an associate producer for CBC's The House and a digital
writer with CBC Politics. He was also a 2024 Joan Donaldson Scholar and
a graduate of Carleton University. You can reach him at
benjamin.steven@cbc.ca or find him on Twitter at @bensteven_s.
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters aboard Air Force One at Al Udeid Air Base in Doha, Qatar, Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025. (Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo)
U.S. President
Donald Trump has announced on social media he will be increasing “the
Tariff on Canada” by 10 per cent “over and above what they are paying
now" because of an advertisement by the Ontario government.
“Canada was caught, red handed, putting up a fraudulent advertisement on Ronald Reagan’s Speech on Tariffs,” Trump wrote on his platform Truth Social on Saturday afternoon.
“Their
Advertisement was to be taken down, IMMEDIATELY, but they let it run
last night during the World Series, knowing it was a FRAUD,” the U.S.
president added.
It’s
unclear at the moment which tariff, or tariffs, the U.S. president is
referring to. CBC News has reached out to the White House, the Prime
Minister’s Office and Ontario Premier Doug Ford's office for details.
Flavio
Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association and
member of the Prime Minister’s Council on Canada-U.S. Relations, said
on social media "to be clear, a TV commercial is about to cost American
consumers about $50B because [Trump's] mad."
Trump’s
announcement is the latest escalation over an Ontario government
advertisement that uses the late U.S. president Ronald Reagan's own
words to send an anti-tariff message to American audiences.
WATCH | Ontario's one-minute ad that uses Ronald Reagan's anti-tariff message:
See the anti-tariff ad Doug Ford has been airing in the U.S.
October 24 |
Duration 1:01
Ontario
Premier Doug Ford's government paid around $75 million to air this ad,
featuring remarks from former president Ronald Reagan, on U.S.
television stations — a move that has angered President Donald Trump.
On
Thursday night, Trump said he was terminating all trade discussions
with Canada over the advertisement, which he described then as
fraudulent and fake.
He continued that criticism in his Saturday
afternoon post, arguing that Reagan "LOVED" tariffs for national
security purposes and the economy.
Just before Trump cut off trade
talks, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute said
it took issue with the ad and claimed the Ontario government "did not
seek nor receive permission to use and edit the remark."
In an interview with CBC's The House
that aired Saturday morning, Derek Burney, former chief of staff to
prime minister Brian Mulroney, said it was Mulroney and Reagan's
commitment to free trade that helped the two men land an agreement
between Canada and the United States.
“The thing that drove it
home was the commitment from the president and prime minister. Nobody in
America is in any doubt about Ronald Reagan’s views on tariffs,” Burney
said.
WATCH | Trump claims Ontario fraudulently edited Reagan. Here's a closer look at the ad:
Why Trump just ‘terminated’ Canada-U.S. trade talks | About That
October 24 |
Duration 9:14
In
a late-night post on Truth Social, U.S. President Donald Trump called
off all trade negotiations with Canada. The problem, he said: An Ontario
government anti-tariff advertisement made 'fraudulent' use of the late
U.S. president Ronald Reagan’s speech. But was it actually fake? Andrew
Chang takes a closer look at the editing of the ad and breaks down why
Trump might have reacted the way he did.
Images provided by The Canadian Press, Reuters and Getty Images
Ford
said on Friday his government will pull the advertisement from U.S.
screens after this weekend, but millions more Americans are still
expected to view it during the World Series game tonight.
Candace
Laing, president and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said
"tariffs at any level remain a tax on America first, then North American
competitiveness as a whole."
"We
hope this threat of escalation can be resolved through diplomatic
channels and further negotiation.... A successful free trade zone is
fundamental for both our countries," Laing said in a statement to CBC
News.
Trump’s tariffs and the U.S. Supreme Court
In his
post, Trump also claimed the sole purpose of Canada’s “FRAUD” was hoping
the United States Supreme Court will come to the country’s rescue.
The
Trump administration has requested the Supreme Court overturn a ruling
by the U.S. Federal Court of Appeals that the president’s move to impose
broad-based tariffs on Canada, Mexico and dozens of other countries was
unconstitutional.
WATCH | 'It's not just about one ad,' says Trump economic adviser:
Canadians have been 'very difficult' to negotiate with on trade, Trump adviser says
October 24 |
Duration 0:51
Kevin
Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, told reporters in
Washington on Friday that U.S. President Donald Trump's social media
posts cutting off trade talks with Canada reveal 'his frustration with
the actions and postures of the Canadians through months of
negotiations.'
On
Thursday, Trump made a similar statement and claimed the Ontario ad was
designed to “interfere” with what he called “THE MOST IMPORTANT CASE
EVER.”
Carney in Malaysia to attend summit
Prime Minister
Mark Carney is currently in Malaysia in search of trade opportunities
with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Trump is
expected to arrive on Sunday.
The
prime minister has not yet publicly commented on Trump's latest
announcement. However, after the U.S. president announced he was
terminating trade talks with Canada, Carney gave a brief response to
reporters in Ottawa.
WATCH | Canada 'ready to pick up' on trade progress with the United States, says Carney:
'We stand ready' to talk trade with U.S., Carney says after Trump cuts off negotiations
October 24 |
Duration 1:35
Prime
Minister Mark Carney spoke Friday after President Donald Trump
announced the U.S. was cutting off trade talks with Canada. He said
Ottawa 'can’t control' the trade policy of the United States, but
stressed that his government is ready to talk — and ready to address
issues within Canada that are within Ottawa’s control.
“We
stand ready to pick up on that progress and build on that progress when
the Americans are ready to have those discussions because it will be
for the benefit of workers in the United States, workers in Canada and
families in both our countries,” the prime minister said.
Carney also said discussions had been moving forward in specific sectors on tariff relief, such as steel, aluminum and energy.
Dominic
LeBlanc, the minister responsible for Canada-U.S. trade, said on social
media that trade talks should be between officials from Washington and
Ottawa.
"Progress
is best achieved through direct engagement with the U.S. administration
— which is the responsibility of the federal government," LeBlanc said
on X.
Benjamin
Lopez Steven is an associate producer for CBC's The House and a digital
writer with CBC Politics. He was also a 2024 Joan Donaldson Scholar and
a graduate of Carleton University. You can reach him at
benjamin.steven@cbc.ca or find him on Twitter at @bensteven_s.
U.S.
President Donald Trump, seen in the Oval Office of the White House on
Wednesday, said in a late-night social media post Thursday that he was
terminating all trade talks with Canada. (Alex Brandon/The Associated Press)
U.S. President
Donald Trump said on Thursday he would terminate all trade negotiations
with Canada over an advertisement by the Ontario government that uses
the late U.S. president Ronald Reagan's own words to send an anti-tariff
message to American audiences.
In a late-night post to his Truth
Social platform, Trump attacked the ad, which he attributed to Canada
rather than Ontario, as fraudulent and fake.
"TARIFFS ARE VERY
IMPORTANT TO THE NATIONAL SECURITY, AND ECONOMY, OF THE U.S.A." Trump
wrote. "Based on their egregious behavior, ALL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH
CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED."
He
slammed the "crooked ad" again Friday night, shortly after it aired
during the seventh inning of Fox's national broadcast of Game 1 of the
World Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers.
"They
could have pulled it tonight," Trump said as he left the White House
for a trip to this weekend's Association of Southeast Asian Nations
Summit in Malaysia. "Well, that's dirty play — but I can play dirtier
than they can, you know."
He also told reporters he had no plans
to speak or meet with Prime Minister Mark Carney, who is also en route
to Kuala Lumpur for the meeting.
Just two weeks ago, after
Carney visited the White House, Trump directed two senior members of his
cabinet to get a deal with Canada on steel, aluminum and energy.
Carney commented briefly on the president's remarks as he boarded a flight to Asia on Friday.
He
said Canadian officials have been having "constructive" negotiations
with their American counterparts and Canada "stands ready to pick up on
that progress and build on that progress when the Americans are ready to
have those discussions."
He did not take questions from journalists.
The
ad that prompted Trump's sudden cancellation of the talks comes from
Ontario Premier Doug Ford's government. It contains a minute-long
excerpt from then-president Reagan's April 1987 radio address about free
trade.
WATCH | Trump strikes back after anti-tariff ad airs during Game 1 of World Series:
Ontario will pause anti-tariff ad after weekend World Series games
October 25 |
Duration 7:06
Ontario
Premier Doug Ford stands by his decision to run an anti-tariff ad
campaign in the U.S. after President Donald Trump halted trade talks
with Canada because of it. The ad will be paused next week and Prime
Minister Mark Carney says he is ready to resume talks when the U.S. is
interested.
"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," Reagan, a beloved
figure among free-market Republicans, says in the voice-over used in the
ad.
"High tariffs inevitably lead to retaliation by foreign
countries and the triggering of fierce trade wars. Then the worst
happens. Markets shrink and collapse, businesses and industry shut down,
and millions of people lose their jobs," the ad continues.
On
Friday afternoon, Ford said he will pull the ad effective Monday — but
not before it's seen by millions more Americans over the weekend as it
airs during the World Series games.
Ford said he made the decision
to "pause" the campaign after "speaking with Prime Minister Carney" so
that trade talks between the two countries "can resume."
"Our
intention was always to initiate a conversation about the kind of
economy that Americans want to build and the impact of tariffs on
workers and businesses. We've achieved our goal, having reached U.S.
audiences at the highest levels," Ford wrote in an online post.
Reagan foundation takes issue
Trump had seen the ad earlier in the week, yet did not respond so virulently.
"I
even see foreign countries now that we are doing very well with
[tariffs] taking ads, 'Don't go with tariffs!'" Trump told a gathering
of Republicans at the White House on Tuesday.
"I saw an ad last
night from Canada. If I was Canada, I'd take that same ad also," said
Trump. "But I do believe that everybody's too smart for that."
A
few hours before Trump's late-night post that said he would be
terminating trade talks, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation &
Institute also took issue with the ad.
"The
ad misrepresents the Presidential Radio Address, and the Government of
Ontario did not seek nor receive permission to use and edit the
remarks," the institute said in a social media post on Thursday night.
The institute added that it "is reviewing its legal options in this matter."
Earlier, a spokesperson for Ford said the Ontario government did nothing wrong.
"The
commercial uses an unedited excerpt from one of President Reagan’s
public addresses, which is available through public domain," said the
spokesperson in an email to CBC News.
"Reagan knew and spoke
directly to Americans that tariffs hurt the U.S. economy, workers and
families. He was a strong supporter of free and fair trade between
Canada and America," the spokesperson said.
Ontario is spending
$75 million on the campaign, with plans to air the ads on such networks
as Fox News, Fox Sports, Newsmax, Bloomberg, NBC, CBS and ABC.
The
ad has already been spotted on stations in the Washington, D.C., area,
including during Game 7 of the American League Championship Series,
which was won by the Toronto Blue Jays.
WATCH | The ad that triggered Trump:
Ford launches anti-tariff ad campaign in U.S.
October 15 |
Duration 2:46
The
Ontario government is launching a new multi-million dollar ad campaign
aimed at U.S. residents, warning them of the dangers of tariffs. CBC's
Lorenda Reddekopp has the details.
Trade talks have been ongoing in Washington
The talks that Trump abruptly cancelled have been ongoing for the past two weeks in Washington, following the Carney-Trump meeting in the Oval Office on Oct. 7.
As
recently as Wednesday, a spokesperson for Canada-U.S. Trade Minister
Dominic LeBlanc described the negotiations as making progress.
"Minister
LeBlanc continues to engage with senior U.S. officials, as working
towards an agreement with the United States is his top priority," said
LeBlanc's press secretary Gabriel Brunet in an email to CBC News.
Brunet
said LeBlanc's objective is "to build on the progress made until an
agreement is reached that is in the best interests of Canadian workers
and businesses.”
In his social media post, Trump claimed the
anti-tariff ad campaign is designed to "interfere with the decision of
the U.S. Supreme Court."
The court is scheduled to hear
arguments next month into Trump's use of the International Emergency
Economic Powers Act to impose broad-based tariffs on Canada, Mexico and
dozens of other countries around the world.
This
is not the first time that one of Ford's tactics in the trade war with
the U.S. has drawn the ire of the Trump administration.
Ford's
move to slap a surcharge on Ontario's electricity exports to U.S. states
in March prompted Trump to threaten to double tariffs on Canadian steel
and aluminum exports to 50 per cent.
WATCH | In a social media post, Trump calls off trade talks with Canada :
Trump says all trade negotiations with Canada are terminated
October 24 |
Duration 3:37
U.S.
President Donald Trump says that all trade talks with Canada are
terminated in a post on his Truth Social platform. He cited a complaint
by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute about a
'selective' clip of Reagan talking about tariffs in an ad by the
Government of Ontario.
Mike
Crawley is a correspondent for CBC News, based in Washington. He began
his career as a newspaper reporter in B.C., spent six years as a
freelance journalist in various parts of Africa, then joined the CBC in
2005. Mike reported on Ontario politics for 15 years. He was born and
raised in Saint John, N.B.
Is the anti-tariff ad really to blame for Canada-U.S. trade negotiations breaking down?
October 24 |
Duration 4:29
U.S.
President Donald Trump says he’s terminating all negotiations with
Canada, blaming an anti-tariff ad that was broadcast to American
audiences. But does Trump’s frustrations go beyond the Ontario
government-made ad?
Ontario
Premier Doug Ford is standing by his decision to run an anti-tariff
U.S. ad campaign after President Donald Trump halted trade talks with
Canada because of it.
Still, Ford said the ads would go on pause starting Monday.
The
ad features a clip of former U.S. president Ronald Reagan speaking
about the risks that tariffs can pose for countries that implement them,
which Trump decried as "fraudulent."
In
a statement early on Friday, Ford's office defended the advertisement
saying that the clip of Reagan, from one of his public addresses, was
unedited and available to the public.
"President Ronald Reagan
knew … that tariffs hurt the U.S. economy, workers and families. He was a
strong supporter of free and fair trade between Canada and America,”
said Grace Lee, a spokesperson for the premier's office.
WATCH | The anti-tariff ad that made Trump pause U.S.-Canada trade talks:
See the anti-tariff ad Doug Ford has been airing in the U.S.
October 24 |
Duration 1:01
Ontario
Premier Doug Ford's government paid around $75 million to air this ad,
featuring remarks from former president Ronald Reagan, on U.S.
television stations — a move that has angered President Donald Trump.
In
a statement released later on Friday, the premier's office doubled down
on the intent behind the ad, but said it would be put on pause come
Monday so trade talks could resume.
The ad campaign, which
reportedly costs $75 million, and the initial decision to continue to
air it, drew significant criticism from Ford’s political opponents.
“The
best he can say to the plant workers that are losing their jobs right
now is ‘don't worry, we'll train you for new jobs,’” said Ontario NDP
Leader Marit Stiles at a Queen’s Park news conference on Friday.
“They’re
saying we want to keep our jobs, help us protect these jobs now. But
he's not interested in that. He wants to go off and wave a flag to get
Donald Trump's attention; the job of the premier needs to be right here
in the province of Ontario.”
Ontario
NDP Leader Marit Stiles criticized Premier Ford's $75 million ad
campaign in the U.S., saying his focus should be issues within the
province. (The Canadian Press)
The
$75-million campaign cost would have been better spent internally, the
Ontario Liberal Party said at a news conference Friday.
“Ontario's
economy was hurting long before President Trump and U.S. tariffs.
That's what the premier should be focused on,” said Stephanie Bowman,
Liberal MPP for Don Valley West. Both the NDP and the Liberals had
called for the ad campaign to be stopped.
In a social media post after that, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said she was "pleased" to see the campaign being suspended.
However,
Ford had some support from Manitoba, where Premier Wab Kinew said “it’s
clear that these ads are working” and encouraged Ford to keep airing
them.
“They’re effective, and this country is behind you,” Kinew said in a post on social media .
Ford has also received support from one of Canada’s largest trade unions, Unifor.
“Premier
Ford … understands that we can’t negotiate from our knees. We need to
fight back. We can’t remain silent while we are bleeding jobs, and our
workers and industries are under attack by unjust and punitive tariffs,”
said the union’s national president, Lana Payne, in a statement.
In
a statement, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce said it agreed with Ford’s
belief that Americans “deserve to know the truth” about tariffs, which
the chamber called an “act of massive self harm.”
CBC News has reached out to the Prime Minister's Office for comment.
Ottawa
was informed of Trump's decision to scrap the talks shortly before he
posted on social media, a senior federal government source previously
told Radio-Canada late Thursday.
U.S.
President Ronald Reagan speaks during a news conference at the White
House in Washington, on March 19, 1987. The use of Reagan's remarks
against tariffs in an ad paid for by the Ontario government has incensed
the current U.S. president. (Dennis Cook/The Associated Press)
An Ontario
government ad that attracted the wrath of U.S. President Donald Trump
was successful — even if it didn’t produce the outcome provincial
officials might have anticipated, say experts in political
communication.
And, they expect, it will not face any serious
legal challenges in the U.S., which allows a lot of latitude when it
comes to political commentary.
The ad, which is airing in the
U.S., features audio clips criticizing tariffs from a 1987 speech by
U.S. President Ronald Reagan. It seems to have incensed Trump, who late
on Thursday denounced it as "fake" — abruptly cutting off trade talks and accusing Canada of interfering with an upcoming U.S. Supreme Court decision.
“That
ad worked. It was a good ad," said Alex Marland, a professor at Acadia
University and the author of a book on political messaging.
He says the challenge for political advertising is to cut through the clutter, resonate with people and get their attention.
"In this particular case, the ad obviously was so successful that the president was upset."
Alex Marland, a political scientist at Acadia University, says the ad worked because it got attention. (Submitted by Alex Marland)
Whether Ontario achieved its goals "is another thing," he said. "But the bottom line is, the ad was getting attention.”
Marland
suggested Ontario run the ad for a couple more days in the hopes of
getting media attention in the U.S. then “take their time” taking it
down.
Premier Doug Ford says Ontario will end the $75 million campaign
on Monday, because it achieved its goal “having reached U.S. audiences
at the highest levels.” By continuing over the weekend, the ad will be
seen during the first two World Series games.
The Ronald Reagan
Presidential Foundation and Institute also criticized the ad, alleging
it uses “selective audio and video” of the late Republican president.
The foundation said it was reviewing its "legal options."
But Marland says the rules regarding such material in political ads have changed.
“I
don’t have any concerns about it," he said. "If it gets used for
political purposes, the main thing that I would be concerned about is if
it’s manipulated, if content is spliced and suggests something that was
nonintentional.”
WATCH | Reagan's remarks from 1987:
Jacob
Neiheisal, associate professor of political science with the University
at Buffalo, also doubts the foundation would have much success with
legal action, in part because U.S. courts have historically adopted a
hands-off approach when it comes to political speech.
“Apart
from defamation or slander or something like that, there’s really not
much that can be done if something is simply misleading or even outright
false,” he said.
Neiheisal says Ontario’s ad is likely to get
noticed in the U.S., but may not sway Republicans who support Trump and
could trigger a backlash if it is perceived as outsiders telling
Americans what to do.
“A lot of voters recoil very negatively when
somebody outside of a district or outside of the area that they live
in, has thoughts about what they should be doing. That sentiment, I
think, certainly does have the potential to promote some backlash.”
Elly
Alboim, a strategic communications expert at Earnscliffe Strategies and
an associate professor of journalism at Carleton University, says the
effectiveness of the ad will be influenced by how many people see it.
“I thought it was very clever. Whether people will understand it or whether it provides a call for action, I’m doubtful.”
Alboim,
who is also a former parliamentary bureau chief for CBC News, said
Reagan’s speech is in the public domain and that the ad does what
journalists do all the time, use clips from a speech rather than the
whole speech.
Alboim also questioned why the ad featuring decades-old video from a former president prompted Trump to cancel negotiations.
“The real issue is what is it about this ad that set Trump off like a rocket?”
Award-winning
reporter Elizabeth Thompson covers Parliament Hill. A veteran of the
Montreal Gazette, Sun Media and iPolitics, she currently works with the
CBC's Ottawa bureau, specializing in investigative reporting and data
journalism. In October 2024 she was named a member of the International
Consortium of Investigative Journalists. She can be reached at:
elizabeth.thompson@cbc.ca.
How should Canada respond to U.S. President Donald Trump’s move to terminate trade talks after seeing Ontario’s anti-tariff ad featuring former president Ronald Reagan? Two former Canadian ambassadors to the United States respond: Frank McKenna and Derek Burney.
In a late-night post on Truth Social, U.S. President Donald Trump called off all trade negotiations with Canada. The problem, he said: An Ontario government anti-tariff advertisement made 'fraudulent' use of the late U.S. president Ronald Reagan’s speech. But was it actually fake? Andrew Chang takes a closer look at the editing of the ad and breaks down why Trump might have reacted the way he did.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks as he meets with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in the White House on Wednesday. (Alex Brandon/The Associated Press)
As Donald Trump explained it,
he was primarily worried about the accurate and honourable reporting of
Ronald Reagan's views on trade policy — and concerned that a
misrepresentation of the former U.S. president's views might somehow
influence the justices of the United States Supreme Court.
And
his belief in this regard is so strong that he was willing to suspend
trade negotiations with one of his country's closest allies over a
television ad.
"Based on their egregious behavior, ALL TRADE
NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED." Trump announced in a
social media post published at 10:30 p.m. ET on Thursday.
Trump had seemed, just 48 hours earlier, to understand why a jurisdiction impacted by his tariffs might produce such an ad.
"If I was Canada I’d take that same ad also,” he said on Tuesday.
But
Trump's new claims were built upon a pretext helpfully supplied by the
Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute, which claimed, in a
statement issued shortly before Trump's announcement, that the ad produced by the government of Ontario somehow "misrepresents" what the foundation's namesake said — though the foundation has not yet specified exactly what was misrepresented or how.
WATCH | Is an anti-tariff ad to blame?:
Is the anti-tariff ad really to blame for Canada-U.S. trade negotiations breaking down?
October 24 |
Duration 4:29
U.S.
President Donald Trump says he’s terminating all negotiations with
Canada, blaming an anti-tariff ad that was broadcast to American
audiences. But does Trump’s frustrations go beyond the Ontario
government-made ad?
If
they were not already familiar, Canadian and American viewers will no
doubt come away with a richer understanding of the significant
differences between the 40th and 47th presidents.
Indeed, if
nothing else, this latest drama is another reminder — as if one was
needed — of just how different a world Canada finds itself in and how
immense and disorienting the challenge before it now is.
"I think
we all cling to a model of behaviour of a president, out of comfort,"
Flavio Volpe, president of Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association,
told CBC News on Friday morning, "and I don't know what good it does us
now."
There are, Volpe cautioned, "no quick answers."
Ford declares victory
American complaints about Canadian responses to American actions have been a periodic feature of the last nine months. This is also not the first time Trump has declared a sudden endto trade negotiations because of a grievance he has with the Canadian side.
In that previous episode, Mark Carney's government agreed to resolve the grievance, abandoning a proposed digital services tax
that American tech giants opposed. That at least kept the Americans
talking, though three months later there is still no resolution.
WATCH | Ford suspends ad campaign:
Doug Ford says he'll pause anti-tariff ad that angered Trump
October 24 |
Duration 7:23
U.S.
President Donald Trump announced he would be terminating all trade
negotiations with Canada after an anti-tariff ad by the Ontario
government was broadcast to American audiences. In response, Ontario
Premier Doug Ford said he will pull the ad Monday, after it airs during
the weekend’s World Series games.
In
this week's episode, Ontario Premier Doug Ford has agreed to conclude
the ad campaign, though not before the ads will have run during American
broadcasts of the first two games of the World Series.
"We've achieved our goal, having reached U.S. audiences at the highest levels," Ford said, claiming some measure of victory.
Perhaps
that will also allow the president to claim victory, but comments from
one of Trump's advisers on Friday suggested that there might be broader
American frustrations with the Canadian side. (Depending on the demands
being made by the American side, Canadians might not object to
intransigence.)
U.S. President Reagan speaks during a news conference at the White House in Washington on March 19, 1987. (Dennis Cook/The Associated Press)
Do consequences still matter?
Ford's ad campaign was supported by other premiers — before Ontario agreed to end it, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew released a cheeky video
on Friday calling on Ford to keep the ads on the air — and the Carney
government hadn't objected. But Trump's dramatic response was a reminder
of how interconnected all trade issues with the United States now are
and how combustible the situation can be.
The blowups will
undoubtedly continue, but it will at least be somewhat easier for the
Canadian side if everyone is on the same page when they occur.
As
always, it is hard to differentiate between spectacle and reality
— whether the president was really aggrieved by the television ad or
whether the television ad was a convenient proxy for other grievances.
But Ontario's gambit might have always had the potential to leave a mark
in a way other moves hadn't — first because it was broadcast on
American television, second because it was aimed at the American voter.
Trump's fondness for television is well-documented. And American public opinion might still be the greatest source of potential leverage against his tariffs.
The
American stock market, which might have been expected to sag under the
weight of Trump's trade agenda, has been propped up by a rush to invest
in artificial intelligence. And the New York Times reported on Friday that companies may be starting to pass on more of the extra costs of tariffs to consumers.
It
was the consequences of high tariffs that Reagan was warning Americans
about in 1987. Perhaps those consequences will still come. And however
much has changed — and beyond the presidential theatrics — perhaps
consequences still matter.
Aaron
Wherry has covered Parliament Hill since 2007 and has written for
Maclean's, the National Post and the Globe and Mail. He is the author of
Promise & Peril, a book about Justin Trudeau's years in power.
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Is the anti-tariff ad really to blame for Canada-U.S. trade negotiations breaking down?
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