Trump Halts Canada Trade Talks Over Reagan Ad Controversy

President Donald Trump abruptly withdrew from trade discussions with Canada on Thursday evening, citing his anger over what he called a “phony” television commercial produced by Ontario’s provincial government. The advertisement featured audio clips from a 1987 radio address by former President Ronald Reagan criticizing tariff policies.

The commercial included Reagan’s statement that “over the long run such trade barriers hurt every American worker and consumer.” Trump immediately took to Truth Social to denounce the ad, later telling reporters on the South Lawn before departing for Asia that the commercial was manipulated.

“They cheated on a commercial. Ronald Reagan loved tariffs and they said he didn’t. It was AI or something,” Trump claimed. “They cheated badly. Canada got caught cheating on a commercial.”

However, fact-checkers quickly determined the advertisement used authentic audio from Reagan’s April 25, 1987 presidential radio address. Context, a fact-checking tool on X (formerly Twitter), confirmed: “Ronald Reagan’s statements praising free trade, as reported in a commercial broadcast in Ontario, are not generated by artificial intelligence, as can be easily verified from the audio transcript provided by a reliable source.”

The fact-checking organization provided a link to the complete transcript from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, along with the full audio recording of Reagan’s address.

While the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute criticized the advertisement for misrepresenting Reagan’s speech, they did not dispute the authenticity of the audio itself. Instead, they argued the commercial lacked proper context for Reagan’s remarks.

Reagan delivered the 1987 address during a period of rising economic tensions with Japan. In the complete speech, Reagan did extensively criticize protectionist trade policies, stating: “High tariffs inevitably lead to retaliation by foreign countries and the triggering of fierce trade wars. The result is more and more tariffs, higher and higher trade barriers, and less and less competition.”

The former president went on to describe the devastating economic consequences of such policies: “Soon, because of the prices made artificially high by tariffs that subsidize inefficiency and poor management, people stop buying. Then the worst happens: Markets shrink and collapse; businesses and industries shut down; and millions of people lose their jobs.”

Reagan’s actual trade record was more nuanced than his rhetoric suggested. While he frequently championed free trade principles, his administration did implement several protectionist measures. He imposed duties on Japanese semiconductors and heavy motorcycles, the latter designed to protect American manufacturer Harley-Davidson. Reagan also pressured Japanese automakers to accept “voluntary” export restrictions to the United States, which eventually led them to establish manufacturing plants across the American Midwest and South.

Robert Lighthizer, a Reagan trade official who later served as Trump’s top trade negotiator from 2017 to 2021, acknowledged this complexity in his 2023 memoir, writing that “President Reagan distinguished between free trade in theory and free trade in practice.”

Trump’s approach to tariffs stands in stark contrast to Reagan’s expressed reluctance to implement trade barriers. Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has imposed double-digit tariffs on products from nearly every nation globally, targeting sectors including automobiles, steel, and pharmaceuticals.

According to Yale University’s Budget Lab, the average effective U.S. tariff rate has surged from approximately 2.5% at the beginning of 2025 to 18% currently—the highest level since 1934. Trump has embraced this aggressive tariff strategy, proudly referring to himself as “Tariff Man.”

The president’s enthusiastic use of import taxes has prompted legal challenges from businesses and states arguing he has exceeded his constitutional authority. While the Constitution grants Congress the power to levy taxes, including tariffs, lawmakers have gradually delegated significant trade policy authority to the executive branch. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments on this matter in early December.

In his statements Thursday, Trump claimed the Canadian advertisement was designed “to interfere with the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, and other courts” regarding his tariff authority.