Scott Bessent didn’t miss his opportunity to take a dig at Ontario Premier Doug Ford and the Toronto Blue Jays after their heartbreaking World Series defeat during a Sunday morning appearance on CNN with Jake Tapper.
The U.S. Treasury Secretary pushed back when asked by Tapper about President Donald Trump’s plans to levy additional tariffs against Canada after, accusing Ontario officials of election interference.
."He didn't put on a 10 percent tariff, he threatened to put on a 10 percent tariff," Bessent said. "And Jake, this is unacceptable. I read the premier of Ontario spent $75 million sending propaganda across the U.S. border —"
Tapper cut him off and reminded him that the "propaganda" he was mentioning was just former footage of Ronald Reagan speaking about tariffs in his own words. Bessent ignored the comment and did not engage with Tapper's clarification.
"It's the equivalent of election interference," Bessent continued. "Nobody likes foreign election interference, nobody likes foreign governments trying to sway public opinion for their own good."
Tapper then sought clarification about the possibility of a 10 percent tariff, asking if there's a chance that Trump drops the idea entirely after he received an apology from Ford
"We'll see," Bessent said. "I do think it was a big setback for the Canadian government, and the premier of Ontario should be ashamed, he's probably still smarting from the Blue Jays' loss last night."
"That's harsh," Tapper replied, before congratulating Los Angeles Dodgers fans.
Will Smith’s homer in the 11th inning secured back-to-back World Series titles for the Dodgers, making them the first team to achieve the feat since the New York Yankees in 2000. Despite a fake Truth Social post suggesting otherwise, the president promptly confirmed they would be visiting the White House.
The ad at the center of the controversy that Tapper and Bessent were discussing contained a clip of Reagan explaining in 1987 that tariffs cause trade wars and economic crises. In response, Trump said he would increase tariffs on goods coming out of Canada by 10 percent, and Washington ended its trade talks with Canada.
The ads ran during World Series games on U.S. televisions.
Trump claimed after the ad was released that it was intended to "interfere with the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court," which is currently reviewing a legal challenge to the president's tariffs.
Canadian PM Mark Carney said on Saturday that he had apologized to Trump and told Ford not to run the ad.
“The president was offended by the act, or by the ad, rather,” Carney said. “It’s not something I would have done — which is to put in place that advertisement — and so I apologized to him.”
Some Canadians liked the ad, and support its message. Wab Kinew, the premier of Manitoba, said he thought it was good that the ad made Trump "squirm," according to the New York Times.
“I think it’s good that President Trump has to squirm and that he’s being reminded that Republicans and Mr. Reagan were totally against tariffs,” Kinew told reporters earlier this week.
As of Friday, Trump said he has no plans to restart trade talks with Canada.
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