Ontario Premier Doug Ford has stood firm behind his decision to run an anti-tariff advertisement in the US that featured Ronald Reagan and angered Donald Trump, saying “we have achieved our goal”.
Ford added the TV spot had “one billion views”, and has garnered attention from as far as the UK and India.
His comments on Monday come after President Trump suspended trade talks with Canada over the advert and said that he would hike tariffs on Canada 10% “over and above” current levies.
Both Trump and Prime Minister Mark Carney are in Asia this week for the ASEAN summit, but Trump told reporters he had no plans to meet with Carney and won’t be meeting with him “for a long time”.
President Trump announced the additional 10% tariff on Canada via a Truth Social post over the weekend. It is unclear, however, if the additional levy would be applied broadly or on specific sectors.
Asked about details on Monday, Trump said: “I don’t know when it’s going to kick in, and we’ll see, but I don’t really want to discuss it.”
The US has imposed a 35% tariff on Canadian goods, though most are exempt under an existing free trade agreement. It has also imposed tariffs on specific sectors, including 50% on steel and aluminium and 25% on automobiles.
Carney told reporters on Monday that the US and Canada were close to a trade deal and were exchanging term sheets before negotiations ended.
“Then there were the ads, and everything changed,” Carney said.
The advert, sponsored by the Ontario government, quotes former US President Reagan as saying tariffs “hurt every American”. It takes excerpts from his 1987 national radio address that focused on foreign trade.
Trump had called it “fraudulent”, and accused Canada of wanting to interfere in an upcoming US Supreme Court case that will weigh whether the president’s sweeping tariffs on Canada, Mexico, China and dozens of other countries are legal.
Carney has stopped short of criticising Ford or the advert itself, but he underscored that it is the federal government’s responsibility to lead trade negotiations with the US.
Meanwhile, Ford told reporters on Monday that the prime minister had seen the TV spot before it was released, as did his chief of staff.
In the Ontario legislature, Ford called the advert “the most successful in the history of North America” and said it had ignited conversations across the US and the world about Trump’s tariffs.
“President Trump wants to attack our country, but I’m never going to take a back seat to President Trump,” Ford said.
Some Canadian politicians have spoken out in support of Ford.
Patrick Brown, the mayor of Brampton in Ontario, told CBC on Sunday that he is “glad our premier had the courage to call out the US president on his inconsistencies”.
British Columbia Premier David Eby said his province is planning to run its own anti-tariff adverts next month over US levies on lumber.
By BBC News
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