President Donald Trump on Saturday said the tariff rate applied to imports from Canada will rise by a further 10% over the government of Ontario’s decision to let a tariff ad featuring Ronald Reagan play during Friday night’s World Series game.
“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 wrote to his Truth Social platform. “Because of their serious misrepresentation of the facts, and hostile act, I am increasing the Tariff on Canada by 10% over and above what they are paying now.”
Canadian products entering the U.S. already face a 35% tariff for products not covered by the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Several industries, including steel and aluminum, lumber and cars also face industry-specific tariffs.
The White House did not immediately respond to questions from Agri-Pulse on when the tariff increase would be implemented, whether USMCA products would be exempt and whether it would apply on top of industry-specific tariffs.
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Trump lashed out at Canada on Friday and terminated ongoing trade discussions with the country over an advertisement Ontario’s government placed on U.S. television networks. The ad features clips from a 1987 radio address from then-President Ronald Reagan arguing that tariffs hurt the American economy. Like other modern presidents before Trump, Reagan favored more limited use of tariffs.
Trump accused Ontario of using a “fake” advertisement and claimed that Reagan had been a supporter of tariffs, amplifying a statement from the Ronald Reagan Foundation that accused Ontario of using “selective audio and video.”
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said that Ontario would end the ad beginning Monday. But that was not swift enough for the U.S. president.
“The sole purpose of this FRAUD was Canada’s hope that the United States Supreme Court will come to their 'rescue' on Tariffs that they have used for years to hurt the United States,” Trump said Saturday.
The Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays played in the opening game of the World Series on Friday, which featured the ad.
Both Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney are in Malaysia this weekend at the ASEAN summit, and both will head to South Korea for an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit later in the week.
But Trump told reporters Saturday that he has no plans to meet with Carney and smooth things over.
“They did a crooked ad. Ronald Reagan loved tariffs. What they did was really dishonest,” Trump told reporters on Saturday. He called the ad “dirty playing,” adding, “I can play dirtier than they can, you know.”
Reagan was notoriously a supporter of free trade, but he did impose some tariffs on Japan and counted Robert Lighthizer – the trade policy architect in Trump’s first term – among his trade officials. In the 1987 radio address, he acknowledged the negative economic impacts of tariffs but argued Japan’s unfair trade practices had forced him to take an action he is “loath to take.”
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