Canada Using Reagan's Anti-Tariff Message Miffs Trump
By Reuters | 24 Oct, 2025

Trump calls off talks with Canada after the nation aired a political ad using a recording of Ronald Reagan saying tariffs cause trade wars and economic disaster.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday trade talks with Canada were terminated after a Canadian political advertisement used the recorded voice of late president Ronald Reagan saying tariffs cause trade wars and economic disaster.

Trump, who imposed import tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminum and autos earlier this year, called the video ad fraudulent.

"Based on their egregious behavior, ALL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Canada has responded to the tariffs with trade sanctions of its own, but the two sides have been in talks for weeks on a deal for the steel and aluminum sectors. 

REAGAN VOICEOVER CRITICISES TARIFFS

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said this week that the ad from his provincial government, more than a week old, had caught the Republican president's attention.

The ad's voiceover consists of Reagan, a hero to many U.S. Republicans, criticizing tariffs on foreign goods while saying they cause job losses and trade wars.

"I heard that the president heard our ad. I'm sure he wasn't too happy," Ford said on Tuesday.

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation said the ad used "selective audio and video", and that it was examining legal options. 

"The ad misrepresents the Presidential Radio Address (by Reagan in 1987), and the Government of Ontario did not seek nor receive permission to use and edit the remarks," a Foundation statement said.

The video uses five complete sentences from the five-minute weekly address, spliced together out of sequence.

"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 says. "And sometimes for a short while it works - but only for a short time."

He also says: "...over the long run such trade barriers hurt every American worker and consumer", and that the result of trade wars is that "Markets shrink and collapse; businesses and industries shut down; and millions of people lose their jobs."

TRUMP HAS RAISED TARIFFS TO HIGHEST SINCE 1930S

The ad does not, however, mention that Reagan was using the address to explain that tariffs imposed on Japan by his administration should be seen as a sadly unavoidable exception to his basic belief in free trade as the key to prosperity.

The Canadian government had no immediate comment. 

Trump has called tariffs "the most beautiful word in the dictionary" and used them to apply pressure to countries around the world. 

His trade war has increased U.S. tariffs to their highest levels since the 1930s and he has regularly threatened more duties, sparking concerns among businesses and economists.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters on Thursday that Canada will not allow unfair U.S. access to its markets if talks on various trade deals with Washington fail.

Next year, the U.S., Canada and Mexico are due to review their 2020 continental free-trade agreement.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Writing by Kevin Liffey; Editing by Christian Schmollinger, Thomas Derpinghaus and Tom Hogue)