Trump calls off Canada trade talks after Ontario's Reagan-based antitariff ad

Mike Crawley · CBC News

· Posted: Oct 23, 2025 11:21 PM EDT | Last Updated: 6 hours ago

U.S. President Donald Trump says he is terminating 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."

In a later post on Friday morning, Trump claimed “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,” he wrote. “Canada has long cheated on Tariffs, charging our farmers as much as 400 [per cent]. Now they, and other countries, can’t take advantage of the U.S. any longer."

Just two weeks ago, after Prime Minister Mark Carney visited the White House, Trump directed two senior members of his cabinet to get a deal with Canada on steel, aluminum and energy.

CBC News has asked the Prime Minister's Office for comment but has not received a response. Ottawa was informed of Trump's decision to scrap the talks shortly before he posted on social media, a senior federal government source told Radio-Canada late Thursday.

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 | The ad that triggered Trump:

"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.

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 insitute said in a social media post on Thursday night.

The institute added that it "is reviewing its legal options in this matter."

A spokesperson for Ford says 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.

A still image from a Government of Ontario advertisement currently running in U.S. markets that uses part of a 1987 radio address by then-president Ronald Reagan to make a case against tariffs. (Government of Ontario)

"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.

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.”

WATCH | In a social media post, Trump calls off trade talks with Canada:

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.

Ontario withdrew its surcharge a day later and Trump backed off on his threat, keeping the tariffs at 25 per cent. He ultimately boosted them to 50 per cent in June.