Canadians pull Reagan advertisement after furious Trump halts trade talks

Ontario to halt moving advertisement featuring dependable of US President Ronald Reagan saying that commercialized tariffs were a atrocious idea.

The Canadian state of Ontario has said it volition propulsion an anti-tariff advertisement featuring erstwhile United States President Ronald Reagan’s voice, which prompted existent US person Donald Trump to scrap each commercialized talks with Canada.

Trump announced connected his Truth Social web connected Thursday that helium had “terminated” each negotiations with Canada implicit what helium called the “fake” advertizing campaign that helium said misrepresented chap Republican President Reagan.

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Less than 24 hours later, Ontario’s Premier Doug Ford said helium was suspending the advertisement aft talking to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney astir the spiralling enactment with Washington.

“In speaking with Prime Minister Carney, Ontario volition intermission its US advertizing run effectual Monday truthful that commercialized talks tin resume,” Ford said successful a station connected X.

Ford added, however, that helium had told his squad to support airing the advertisement during 2 shot World Series games this weekend, successful which Canada’s Toronto Blue Jays volition look the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The advertisement utilized quotes from a vigor code connected commercialized that Reagan delivered successful 1987, successful which helium warned against ramifications that helium said precocious tariffs connected overseas imports could person connected the US economy.

Reagan is heard successful the advertisement saying that “high tariffs inevitably pb to retaliation by overseas countries and the triggering of fierce commercialized wars”, a punctuation that matches a transcript of his code connected the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library’s website.

Our volition was ever to initiate a conversation about the benignant of system that Americans privation to physique and the interaction of tariffs connected workers and businesses. We've achieved our goal, having reached U.S. audiences astatine the highest levels. I've directed my squad to support putting our…

— Doug Ford (@fordnation) October 24, 2025

The Ronald Reagan Foundation wrote connected X connected Thursday that the Ontario authorities had utilized “selective audio and video” and that it was reviewing its ineligible options.

An Al Jazeera analysis of the words utilized successful the advertisement recovered that portion it spliced unneurotic antithetic parts of the 1987 code by Reagan, it besides appeared sincere to the meaning of Reagan’s message: that tariffs, if wielded arsenic an economical weapon, indispensable beryllium utilized lone sparingly and for a abbreviated time, oregon they tin wounded Americans.

President Trump did not instantly respond to the Ontario premier’s determination to propulsion the advertisement.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller told reporters that Trump had made his “extreme displeasure” known and was expected to respond aboriginal to quality of the advertisement’s impending removal.

A elder US authoritative said that Trump would astir apt brushwood Carney astatine a meal connected the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) acme successful South Korea connected Wednesday.

“They volition apt spot each other,” the authoritative told the AFP quality agency.

In his archetypal societal media station announcing the motorboat of the advertizing run featuring Reagan’s voice, Ontario’s Ford says, “Using each instrumentality we have, we’ll ne'er halt making the lawsuit against American tariffs connected Canada.”

It’s official: Ontario’s caller advertizing run successful the U.S. has launched. 

Using each instrumentality we have, we’ll ne'er halt making the lawsuit against American tariffs connected Canada. The mode to prosperity is by moving together.

Watch our caller ad. pic.twitter.com/SgIVC1cqMJ

— Doug Ford (@fordnation) October 16, 2025