Trump says he's ending trade talks with Canada over TV ads

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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump announced he's ending “all trade negotiations” with Canada because of a television ad opposing U.S. tariffs that he said misstated the facts and was aimed at influencing U.S. court decisions.

The post on Trump's social media site came Thursday night after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he aims to double his country’s exports to countries outside the U.S. because of the threat posed by Trump’s tariffs. Trump's call for an abrupt end to negotiations could further inflame trade tensions that have been building between the two neighboring countries for months.

Trump posted, “The Ronald Reagan Foundation has just announced that Canada has fraudulently used an advertisement, which is FAKE, featuring Ronald Reagan speaking negatively about Tariffs.”

The ad was paid for by the Ontario provincial government, not the Canadian federal government. The Ontario government said it planned to pay $54 million (about $75 million Canadian) for the ads to air across multiple American television stations using audio and video of then-President Reagan speaking about tariffs in 1987.

“They only did this to interfere with the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, and other courts,” Trump wrote on his social media site. “TARIFFS ARE VERY IMPORTANT TO THE NATIONAL SECURITY, AND ECONOMY, OF THE U.S.A. Based on their egregious behavior, ALL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED.”

Ontario Premier Doug Ford didn’t back down, posting on Friday that Canada and the U.S. are friends, neighbors and allies “and Reagan knew that both are stronger together.” Ford then provided a link to a Reagan speech where the late president voices opposition to tariffs.

Carney said his government remains ready to continue talks to reduce tariffs in certain sectors.

“We can’t control the trade policy of the United States. We recognize that that policy has fundamentally changed from the 1980s,” he said Friday morning before boarding a flight for a summit in Asia. Trump is set to travel to the same summit Friday evening.

“We have to focus on what we can control and realize what we can’t control,” Carney said.

Ford is a populist conservative who doesn’t belong to the same party as Carney, a Liberal.

Trump, on Friday morning, furiously posted on his social media site that “CANADA CHEATED AND GOT CAUGHT!!!” on the tariff ad.

“THE UNITED STATES IS WEALTHY, POWERFUL, AND NATIONALLY SECURE AGAIN, ALL BECAUSE OF TARIFFS!" he wrote in a separate post on his Truth Social account. "THE MOST IMPORTANT CASE EVER IS IN THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT. GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!”

Earlier Thursday night, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute posted on X that an ad created by the government of Ontario “misrepresents the 'Presidential Radio Address to the Nation on Free and Fair Trade' dated April 25, 1987.” It added that Ontario did not receive foundation permission “to use and edit the remarks.”

The foundation said it is “reviewing legal options in this matter” and invited the public to watch the unedited video of Reagan's address.

As for the Supreme Court, Trump is referring to a case scheduled for early November in which the justices will consider the legality of his sweeping tariffs. Two lower courts have determined that Trump cannot unilaterally impose wide-ranging tariffs under an emergency powers law. His administration argues otherwise, saying he can regulate importation and that includes tariff policy.

Carney met with Trump earlier this month to try to ease trade tensions, as the two countries and Mexico prepare for a review of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a trade deal Trump negotiated in his first term but has since soured on.

More than three-quarters of Canadian exports go to the U.S., and nearly $3.6 billion Canadian ($2.7 billion U.S.) worth of goods and services cross the border daily.

Trump said earlier this week that he had seen the ad on television and said that it showed that his tariffs were having an impact.

“I saw an ad last night from Canada. If I was Canada, I’d take that same ad also,” he said then.

In his own post on X last week, Ford — the leader of Canada’s most populous province — posted a link to the ad and the message: “It’s official: Ontario’s new advertising campaign in the U.S. has launched.”

He continued, “Using every tool we have, we’ll never stop making the case against American tariffs on Canada. The way to prosperity is by working together.”

Ford previously got Trump’s attention with an electricity surcharge to U.S. states. Trump responded by doubling steel and aluminum tariffs.

The president has moved to impose steep U.S. tariffs on many goods from Canada. In April, Canada’s government imposed retaliatory levies on certain U.S. goods -- but it carved out exemptions for some automakers to bring specific numbers of vehicles into the country, known as remission quotas.

Trump’s tariffs have especially hurt Canada’s auto sector, much of which is based in Ontario. This month, Stellantis said it would move a production line from Ontario to Illinois.

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This story has been corrected to show that Trump noted in a social media post that the ad cost $75 million, not $75,000.

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Associated Press writers Seung Min Kim in Washington and Rob Gillies in Toronto, Ontario, contributed to this report.