Donald Trump has officially announced an immediate end to “all trade negotiations” with Canada because of a television advertisement that had the nerve to criticize U.S. tariffs by using a quote from former U.S. president Ronald Reagan. The news broke after Trump posted his reaction on Truth Social, effectively slamming the brakes on talks with our northern neighbor over what he called “egregious behavior,” per The Guardian.
This whole drama centers around an ad paid for by the government of Ontario, Canada, which is one of the provinces that’s been particularly badly hit by the escalating trade war. The core of the ad uses excerpts from a 1987 Reagan speech where the former president says that “trade barriers hurt every American worker.” Now, you’d think quoting a well-known Republican president would be a clever way to make a point to a U.S. audience.
Trump immediately took to his platform to claim that Canada had “fraudulently used an advertisment[sic],” calling the ad “FAKE” and accusing the country of trying to interfere with U.S. court decisions on the levies. His exact words were a declaration: “Based on their egregious behavior, all trade negotiations with Canada are hereby terminated.”
Trump had a hissy fit when he Regan’s own words made him look bad
Not long after, the U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, confirmed that negotiations with Ottawa were officially suspended. Later on, Trump doubled down on Truth Social, posting that “Canada cheated and got caught,” claiming the ad was a blatant attempt to influence the U.S. Supreme Court hearings on the legality of his global tariffs, which are set to begin on November 5.
To be fair, Canada and the province of Ontario have a reason to be mad. Washington initially imposed a 25% tariff on imports of Canadian goods, including crucial items like timber, steel, aluminum, and cars, back in the spring. That rate was then jacked up to a whopping 35% by Trump in August, naturally prompting retaliatory action from Ottawa. Ontario’s premier, Doug Ford, has been one of the most vocal critics of these U.S. border taxes, and he’s the one who launched this now-infamous advertising campaign.
Canada and the United States are friends, neighbours and allies. President Ronald Reagan knew that we are stronger together.
— Doug Ford (@fordnation) October 24, 2025
God bless Canada and God bless the United States.https://t.co/n1Nj6ofNZU
Ford’s intentions were pretty clear, posting on Instagram at the time: “Using every tool we have, we’ll never stop making the case against American tariffs on Canada. The way to prosperity is by working together.” The minute-long clip was squarely aimed at a U.S. audience and played the Reagan audio over images of workers, families, cargo ships, and cranes flying both U.S. and Canadian flags. The message was simply about the shared benefits of open trade.
The key quote they used was a solid point, too. From the 1987 radio address, Reagan said: “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. And sometimes, for a short while it works, but only for a short time. But over the long run, such trade barriers hurt every American worker and consumer.” That’s a powerful statement, and shows how much the GOP used to know about business.
