Late on the evening of October 23rd, US President Donald Trump condemned anti-tariff advertising by the Canadian provincial government of Ontario and announced that he was terminating all tariff negotiations with Canada.<\/p>\n
The ad, produced by the government of Ontario Premier Doug Ford, is aimed at American audiences in the United States. It uses excerpts from former President Ronald Reagan’s 1987 “Radio Address on Free Trade” to convey an anti-tariff message. It has already aired in the Washington, D.C., area and was also spotted during Game 7 of the American League Championship Series.<\/p>\n
On the 23rd, President Trump called the ad “fake and deceptive” on his social media account “Truth Social.” He said he had seen the ad a few days earlier but had not responded strongly to it at the time.\u3000CBC News Online reported, citing sources, that President Trump’s decision to end trade negotiations came as a complete surprise to the Canadian government.<\/p>\n
Following his meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney on October 7, President Trump instructed two cabinet members to finalize an agreement with Canada on the steel, aluminium, and energy sectors. A spokesperson for Canada-US Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said that the negotiations were “progressing” as of the 22nd. Some reports have said that if the negotiations went smoothly, they were scheduled to be concluded by around Thanksgiving in the US.<\/p>\n
In response to this series of events, Prime Minister Carney told reporters on the 24th before leaving to attend ASEAN, “Canada is ready to continue trade negotiations when the U.S. side is ready to resume discussions.”<\/p>\n
Regarding this advertisement, the Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute also announced in a statement that it was considering legal action, saying, “It misrepresents the content of President Reagan’s speech, and the Ontario government did not seek or receive permission to use or edit the remarks.”<\/p>\n
In response, Premier Ford’s press secretary stated, “The advertisement uses portions of President Reagan’s public speeches, unedited, and is available for use in the public domain,” indicating that there is no legal problem.<\/p>\n
Ontario announced that it would air the ads until the 26th, including games one and two of the Major League Baseball World Series, and then stop airing them on the 27th.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Carney will attend the ASEAN-South Korea APEC summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, but is not scheduled to meet with President Trump.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"