The premier of Canada’s most populous province has again complicated the country’s delicate trade negotiations with the U.S., this time with a political ad targeting Americans that has drawn the ire of U.S. President Donald Trump.
The ad, commissioned by Doug Ford, Ontario’s outspoken Conservative premier who is sometimes compared to Trump, uses a snippet of Republican icon and former President Ronald Reagan saying that tariffs cause trade wars and economic disaster.
On Saturday, Trump announced that he was increasing tariffs on goods from Canada by an additional 10% “above what they’re paying now,” in response to the ad.
“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 posted on Truth Social, describing the ad as a “misrepresentation of facts.”
On Thursday, Washington halted trade talks with Canada over Ontario’s decision to air the ad.
Prime Minister Mark Carney, unlike Ford, has sought to lower the temperature with Trump since taking office in March and had hoped for a deal to eliminate U.S. tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum imports.
In March, Ford, who often sports a “Canada is not for sale” hat, threatened to implement a surcharge on energy going to several American states if the U.S. moved ahead with tariffs on steel and aluminum. Ford later relented, and the White House claimed victory, saying he had “Backed down.”
Ford said in a statement on Friday that after discussions with Carney, Ontario would pause the U.S. advertising campaign on Monday so that trade talks could resume.
But the disputed commercial will continue to air this weekend as the Toronto Blue Jays play in the first two games of the World Series, he added. The first game was played on Friday night.
Ford said the message has reached U.S. audiences “at the highest levels.”
ATTACK-DOG APPROACH
Some analysts suggested that Ford’s ad was only a pretext for Trump’s outburst.
“Mr. Trump doesn’t like to be confronted with the truth,” said Asa McKercher, an expert in U.S.-Canada politics at St. Francis Xavier University in Canada. He said the ad was an accurate representation of Reagan’s views.
Trump first saw the ad earlier in the week and said on Tuesday, “If I was Canada, I’d take that same ad also.”
McKercher said Ford has often used his aggressive and populist style to appeal to American audiences in appearances on conservative-leaning outlets like Fox News, but that his latest ad may have misfired.
The Canadian dollar weakened after Trump broke off trade talks, and Ontario is the province most impacted by auto and steel tariffs.
“When you use Ford’s attack-dog approach, there’s always a risk that you’re going to get smacked,” McKercher said, adding it would be Carney who might need to make concessions to get Trump back to trade negotiations.
Still, Ford’s approach attracted some unusual support from politicians on the other side of the political spectrum.
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew, who heads the left-leaning New Democratic Party in the province, posted a message for his “good friend Doug Ford,” calling on him to keep running the ads.
