United States President Donald Trump announced on social media that he will increase “the tariff on Canada” by 10 percent “above what they are paying now” due to an announcement from the Ontario government.
“Canada was caught, red-handed, placing a fraudulent ad in Ronald Reagan’s tariff speech,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform Saturday afternoon.
“Their ad should have been withdrawn IMMEDIATELY, but they let it run last night during the World Series, knowing it was a FRAUD,” added the president of the United States.
It is not clear at the moment which tariff or tariffs the US president is referring to. CBC News has reached out to the White House, the Prime Minister’s Office and Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s office for more details.
Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association and a member of the Prime Minister’s Council on Canada-U.S. Relations, said on social media that “to be clear, a TV ad is about to cost American consumers about $50 billion because [Trump’s] angry.”
Trump’s announcement is the latest escalation around an Ontario government ad that uses the late U.S. President Ronald Reagan’s own words to send an anti-tariff message to the American public.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government paid about $75 million to air this ad, which includes comments from former President Ronald Reagan, on American television stations, a move that has angered President Donald Trump.
On Thursday night, Trump said he would end all trade talks with Canada over the announcement, which he described at the time as fraudulent and false.
He continued that criticism in his Saturday afternoon post, arguing that Reagan “LOVED” tariffs for national security and economic reasons.
Just before Trump broke off trade talks, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute said it disagreed with the ad, stating that the Ontario government “did not seek or receive permission to use and edit the comment.”
In an interview with CBC the house which aired Saturday morning, Derek Burney, former chief of staff to Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, said it was Mulroney and Reagan’s commitment to free trade that helped the two men reach a deal between Canada and the United States.
“What drove home the point for me was the commitment of the president and the prime minister. No one in America has any doubt about Ronald Reagan’s views on tariffs,” Burney said.
In a late-night post on Truth Social, US President Donald Trump canceled all trade negotiations with Canada. The problem, he said: An anti-tariff ad by the Ontario government made “fraudulent” use of late U.S. President Ronald Reagan’s speech. But was it really fake? Andrew Chang takes a closer look at the editing of the ad and explains why Trump might have reacted the way he did. Images provided by The Canadian Press, Reuters and Getty Images
Ford said Friday that his government will pull the ad from American screens after this weekend, but millions more Americans are still expected to see it during tonight’s World Series game.
Candace Laing, president and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said that “tariffs at any level remain a tax first on the United States and then on the competitiveness of North America as a whole.”
“We hope that this threat of escalation can be resolved through diplomatic channels and further negotiations… A successful free trade area is critical for our two countries,” Laing said in a statement to CBC News.
Trump’s tariffs and the US Supreme Court
In his post, Trump also claimed that the sole purpose of Canada’s “FRAUD” was to wait for the US Supreme Court to come to the country’s rescue.
The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to overturn a ruling by the U.S. Court of Federal Appeals that the president’s decision to impose sweeping tariffs on Canada, Mexico and dozens of other countries was unconstitutional.
Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, told reporters in Washington on Friday that social media posts by U.S. President Donald Trump cutting off trade talks with Canada reveal “his frustration with the actions and stances of Canadians throughout months of negotiations.”
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in November. If Trump loses, the tariffs he imposed on Canada and Mexico over fentanyl trafficking and illegal immigration would be rescinded, along with what he likes to call his “Liberation Day” tariffs.
On Thursday, Trump made a similar statement, claiming that Ontario’s announcement was designed to “interfere” with what he called “THE MOST IMPORTANT CASE EVER.”
Carney in Malaysia to attend summit
Prime Minister Mark Carney is currently in Malaysia pursuing trade opportunities with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Trump is expected to arrive on Sunday.
The prime minister has yet to comment publicly on Trump’s latest announcement. However, after the US president announced he would end trade talks with Canada, Carney gave a brief response to reporters in Ottawa.
Prime Minister Mark Carney spoke Friday after President Donald Trump announced that the United States would cut off trade talks with Canada. He said Ottawa “cannot control” U.S. trade policy, but stressed his government is willing to talk and address issues within Canada that are under Ottawa’s control.
“We are ready to pick up on that progress and build on that progress when Americans are ready to have those discussions because it will be in the best interest of American workers, Canadian workers and families in both of our countries,” the prime minister said.
Carney also said discussions had made progress in specific sectors on tariff reductions, such as steel, aluminum and energy.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre criticized Carney in a social media post Saturday night, saying that if the prime minister had reached a trade deal before the July 21 deadline imposed earlier this summer, Canada would not face Trump’s latest tariff increase.
“The cost of the Prime Minister’s broken promises is higher American tariffs and job losses,” Poilievre said.
