Ontario Premier Doug Ford revealed on Friday that an advertisement featuring former President Ronald Reagan, which has drawn ire from President Trump, will be taken off air after its broadcast during the World Series.
This ad led to President Trump pausing trade talks between the U.S. and Canada.
Ford expressed that their goal was to spark a dialogue surrounding the type of economy Americans aspire to and the consequences of tariffs on workers and businesses. “We reached the highest level of U.S. audience and achieved our goal,” he mentioned in a post on platform X.
He added, “I’ve instructed our team to ensure our message continues reaching the American people this weekend, airing commercials during the initial two games of the World Series.” He also noted that Ontario would halt its U.S. ad campaign starting Monday to facilitate the resumption of trade negotiations.
The Toronto Blue Jays are set to face the Los Angeles Dodgers in the first two games of the MLB World Series, occurring on Friday and Saturday.
The advertisement features snippets from Reagan’s April 1987 speech regarding tariffs on Japan.
Reagan’s voice opens the ad with a reminder that when someone advocates for tariffs on foreign imports, it may seem like a patriotic act to safeguard American jobs and products. However, he also cautions that this approach only benefits the economy temporarily.
He continues in the ad by stating that trade barriers ultimately harm all American consumers and workers in the long run. This sentiment was part of a more extensive point made in his speech.
After learning about the advertisement, Trump halted negotiations and criticized Canada on his platform, Truth Social, claiming that they were attempting to “unlawfully influence” an ongoing Supreme Court case concerning tariffs.
“Canada cheated and got caught!!!” Trump posted on Truth Social on Friday morning following the previous night’s trade negotiations. He challenged claims that Reagan opposed tariffs, asserting that the former president actually supported them for the sake of national security.
In July, Trump had announced a 35% tariff on all Canadian products except those included in the 2020 U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement.
