U.S. President Donald Trump announced an additional 10 per cent tariff on Canada on Saturday because the Ontario government didn't immediately pull down an anti-tariff ad it was running in U.S. markets.
"Because of their serious misrepresentation of the facts, and hostile act, I am increasing the Tariff on Canada by 10 per cent over and above what they are paying now,” Trump said a post on his social media platform Truth Social.
“Their Advertisement was to be taken down, IMMEDIATELY, but they let it run last night during the World Series, knowing that it was a FRAUD,” Trump said on the platform as he flew aboard Air Force One to Malaysia.
The Ontario government launched the $75-million anti-tariff ad campaign featuring former U.S. president Ronald Reagan earlier this month and it was scheduled to run until the end of January.
Late Thursday, Trump announced he was ending trade talks with Canada over the ad. Ontario premier Doug Ford announced Friday the government would pull the ad in hopes of getting trade talks restarted, but not until Monday.
Ford has said he decided to pull the campaign after speaking with Carney. But the premier also said he'd only stop running the ads after the weekend, so they could play throughout the first two World Series games and get in front of a massive American audience.
A spokeswoman for Ford said in an email following Trump's announcement of the new 10-per-cent levy that the premier's statement from Friday stands.
Carney is already in Malaysia at the ASEAN summit. He and Trump do not currently have a plan to meet or speak during the summit, and Trump told reporters travelling with him that he had no intention of meeting Carney there.
Standing on the tarmac outside Ottawa's airport Friday morning before leaving for Asia, Carney said Canada can't control a U.S. trade policy that has "fundamentally changed." He said his officials and colleagues have been working with Americans on constructive and detailed negotiations on sector-specific tariffs, like steel, aluminum and energy, noting "a lot of progress has been made."
Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc echoed that statement in a social media post late Saturday, that did not directly mention Trump's latest tariff threat or the ad.
He said Canada stands "ready to build on the progress made in constructive discussions with American counterparts over the course of recent weeks."
"And that progress is best achieved through direct engagement with the U.S. administration — which is the responsibility of the federal government," Leblanc said in the post on X, in a subtle point that the ad was not coming from the federal government.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said in a social media post Canada wouldn't be facing the tariff hike if Carney had kept his promise to negotiate a win.
Talks between Canadian officials and Trump have been off and on for nearly a year but seemed to be more focused and successful in recent weeks, after Carney and Trump met for a second time in the Oval Office on Oct. 7.
LeBlanc, along with Privy Council Clerk Michael Sabia have spent much of their time since that meeting in Washington meeting with Trump officials, as both countries looked to pursue specific deals on steel, aluminum and energy.
It was not immediately clear what the new tariff would be applied to, or when it would take effect. Neither the White House nor Prime Minister Mark Carney's office have responded to a request for comment.
Trump has imposed multiple rounds of tariffs on most countries since taking office in January.
On Canada, the main tariff is 35 per cent on all goods not compliant with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement, the new continental free trade pact Trump reached with Canada and Mexico during his first term.
There are also sectoral duties ranging mostly from 25 to 50 per cent on several products including steel, aluminum, copper, softwood lumber and automobiles.
Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association, said in a social media post Saturday the additional tariff will hurt Americans.
"To be clear, a TV commercial is about to cost American consumers about $50B because he’s mad," Volpe said on X.
Canada's auto sector is among those hit hardest by Trump's tariffs.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has engaged in a highly public battle with Trump, also said the tariffs will cost the U.S. more, accusing Trump of "punishing the American people with higher costs" because he "got his feelings hurt."
The ad features footage of former president Ronald Reagan warning about the economically devastating effects of tariffs. lt was shown again during the broadcast of the World Series on Friday night where the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers.
As he departed the White House for Asia Friday night, Trump blasted the ad as “crooked” and “possibly AI.”
He's said it misrepresented the position of Reagan, a two-term president and a beloved figure in the Republican party. But Reagan was wary of tariffs and used much of the 1987 address featured in Ontario's ad spelling out the case against tariffs.
A New York Times analysis of the ad and the original speech, published on Saturday, concluded while the ad reordered some of the parts of the 1987 speech, it did not misrepresent or alter what Reagan said.
The ads began airing last week and have run on right-wing networks that cater to Republican audiences and Trump supporters, such as Newsmax and Fox News.
Trump has also complained the ad was aimed at influencing the U.S. Supreme Court ahead of arguments scheduled for next month that could decide whether Trump has the power to impose his sweeping tariffs, a key part of his economic strategy.
When the ads were launched, Ford said he intended to blast Reagan's anti-tariff message on repeat to "every Republican district there is right across the entire country."
Ford said Friday that the intention of the ads was to start a conversation about the kind of economy that Americans want, and the impact of tariffs on workers and businesses.
"We've achieved our goal, having reached U.S. audiences at the highest levels," Ford said in a media statement Friday.
Picture Courtesy: AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein
