President Donald Trump is still stewing at Canada a day after halting trade negotiations over an Ontario advertisement that invoked former President Ronald Reagan and spoke in opposition to tariffs.
“CANADA CHEATED AND GOT CAUGHT!!!” the president charged Friday morning on his social media platform, Truth Social. “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.”
It’s Trump’s latest broadside against America’s northern neighbor, whose prime minister, Mark Carney, has worked to earn the president’s favor and rebuild a trade relationship that has grown increasingly fractured since January.
Trump first announced the pause in talks in a social media post late Thursday, accusing the Canadian government of “fraudulently” using an advertisement and interfering with an upcoming Supreme Court decision over his tariff powers.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford, whose province launched the C$75 million ad campaign last week, has said he intends to repeat its message to every Republican district in the country. The ad excerpts a 1987 speech from Reagan in which he cautioned Americans on the long-term implications of tariffs and warned that trade barriers harm businesses and consumers.
Trump continued to voice his anger Friday morning.
“Canada is trying to illegally influence the United States Supreme Court in one of the most important rulings in the history of our Country,” the president wrote. “Canada has long cheated on Tariffs, charging our farmers as much as 400%. Now they, and other countries, can’t take advantage of the U.S. any longer.”
The president has made a habit of antagonizing Canada since his reelection last November. He taunted Ottawa with “51st state” barbs so often that former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau contended that Trump’s fixation was “a real thing.” He previously called off trade negotiations with the country in June over Canada’s Digital Services Tax, before resuming talks days later when Carney’s government backed off.
Global Affairs Canada, the country’s foreign affairs ministry, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump’s Friday remarks.
