Trump Halts US-Canada Trade Negotiations Over Ontario's Reagan-Inspired Anti-Tariff Ad

Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced Friday that the anti-tariff advertisement which prompted US President Donald Trump to halt trade negotiations with Canada will be removed after the weekend.

Following discussions with Prime Minister Mark Carney, Ford decided to suspend the advertising campaign effective Monday to allow trade talks to resume.

Trump terminated "all trade negotiations" with Canada after taking offense to a television advertisement sponsored by Ontario that featured former President Ronald Reagan's words criticizing US tariffs.

"We've achieved our goal, having reached US audiences at the highest levels," Ford stated. "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."

The controversial commercials will continue airing through the weekend, including during the first World Series games between the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers.

"I've directed my team to keep putting our message in front of Americans over the weekend so that we can air our commercial during the first two World Series games," Ford explained.

The advertisement was broadcast Friday night during the seventh inning of Fox's national coverage of Game 1, with the Blue Jays leading 11-4.

On Thursday, Trump posted on social media that "The Ronald Reagan Foundation has just announced that Canada has fraudulently used an advertisement, which is FAKE, featuring Ronald Reagan speaking negatively about Tariffs."

Trump intensified his criticism Friday, accusing Canada of attempting to influence an upcoming US Supreme Court ruling on his global tariff regime.

The sudden termination of negotiations has further strained trade relations between the neighboring allies.

Prime Minister Carney indicated earlier this week his intention to double Canada's exports to countries outside the US in response to the threat posed by Trump's tariffs. Canadian officials remain open to continuing discussions to reduce tariffs in specific sectors.

"We can't control the trade policy of the United States. We recognize that that policy has fundamentally changed from the 1980s," Carney remarked Friday before departing for Asia. "We have to focus on what we can control and realize what we can't control."

Carney has been working to secure a trade agreement with Trump, but tariffs are negatively impacting Canada's aluminum, steel, auto, and lumber industries.

White House spokesman Kush Desai stated that discussions with Canada have not yielded constructive progress.

"Ontario's taxpayer-funded ad campaign on American TV networks - that misleadingly edited President Reagan's 1987 radio address about trade - is the latest example of how Canadian officials would rather play games than engage with the Administration," Desai said.

"As President Trump made clear on Truth Social, further talks are a futile effort if Canada can't be serious."

The Ontario government reportedly allocated approximately $75 million Canadian (US$54 million) to broadcast the ads across multiple American television stations using Reagan's 1987 audio and video about tariffs.

Ford acknowledged earlier this week that Trump had likely seen the advertisement. "I'm sure he wasn't too happy," Ford noted, adding that the goal was to "blast" the pro-trade message to Americans.

"It's real, because it was coming from the best president the country's ever seen, Ronald Reagan," Ford said. "I feel the Reagan Republicans are going to be fighting with the MAGA group, and let's hope, Reagan Republicans win."

Despite being a populist conservative not affiliated with Prime Minister Carney's Liberal party, Ford received support from other provincial leaders including Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew and British Columbia Premier David Eby.

"It's clear that these ads are working. If you throw a rock at a lake and you don't hear a splash, you probably missed. So to my good friend Doug Ford, keep the ads on TV. They're effective, and this country is behind you," Kinew stated.

Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal, suggested the ad has "backfired big time."

Trump has been threatening Canada's economy and sovereignty with tariffs, most controversially by suggesting Canada could become "the 51st state."

Jason Kenney, a former Conservative cabinet minister under ex-Prime Minister Stephen Harper, called Trump's posts "just embarrassing."

"The Ontario ad does not misrepresent President Reagan's anti-tariff radio address in any respect whatsoever. It is a direct replay of his radio address, formatted for a one minute ad," Kenney wrote on social media.

Kenney also criticized the Reagan Foundation, stating it "now has gormless leadership which is easily intimidated by a call from the White House, yet another sign of the hugely corrosive influence of Trump on the American conservative movement."