Doug Ford’s anti-tariff ad has triggered Donald Trump
Trade negotiations are on pause while he cools down
Relations between Canada and the US seemed promising for a moment thanks to Prime Minister Mark Carney and US President Donald Trump recently bonding over baseball. This is the zenith of international diplomacy these days, and we took it as a good sign.
But, late yesterday, a retaliatory Trump shut down trade talks with Carney, announcing on his Truth Social platform that “ALL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED” due to an anti-tariff advertisement commissioned by the Ontario government to air on American television channels.
The ad uses audio of a 1987 national radio address by then-president Ronald Reagan, who opposed tariffs, played over images of working people.
“Over the long run, such trade barriers hurt every American worker and consumer,” says Reagan in the clip. “Markets shrink and collapse, businesses and industries shut down, and millions of people lose their jobs.”
Premier Doug Ford responded on X this morning by posting the commercial again and saying, “President Ronald Reagan knew that we are stronger together. God bless Canada and God bless the United States.”
It’s a clever archival pull, and Ford made his point, but Trump clearly didn’t like it. We’ll see how long his silent treatment on tariffs lasts.
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Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
