Donald Trump says the U.S. will levy an additional 10 per cent tariff on Canadian imports in retaliation for an anti-tariff TV ad by the Ontario government featuring the words and voice of former U.S. president Ronald Reagan.
The U.S. president made the announcement in a post on Truth Social. The tariff will be “over and above what they are paying now,” Trump stated Saturday.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced Friday that the government would pull the ad in hopes of getting trade talks restarted, but not until Monday, meaning it aired during Game 1 of the World Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers Friday, and would air during Game 2 Saturday.
“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 said in his post Saturday as he flew aboard Air Force One to Malaysia.
“Because of their serious misrepresentation of the facts, and hostile act, I am increasing the Tariff on Canada by 10 per cent over and above what they are paying now.”
Ford’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday evening. Wire services’ requests for comment likewise got no response either the White House nor Prime Minister Mark Carney’s office. However, the head of the United Steelworkers in Canada said Trump’s response is a sign the ads are working.
“I support Doug Ford’s ads. Canadians have had enough with the Trump circus. The (new) 10 per cent tariff on Canadian imports just exposed Trump’s glass chin,” said USW’s Marty Warren.
“If our political leaders can stick together for all Canadians, be patient, we have the ability to land this trade war in a good place.”
In a statement via text, the head of Canada’s Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association blasted Trump’s announcement.
“The president of the United States is prepared to tax his own citizens billions of dollars because of an ad in a World Series broadcast,” said APMA CEO Flavio Volpe. “Read that back and ask yourself what happened to the famous American checks and balances.”
The head of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce also slammed Trump’s latest outburst, and said it will hurt the U.S. most of all. The head of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, meanwhile, said the ad is merely an excuse for the U.S. president.
“Canada isn’t caving to his wishes, so Trump is using Ontario’s ad as a pretext to hurt us more,” said OCC CEO Daniel Tisch. “But this is really a threat of capricious cruelty against his own people, who would pay these tariffs. By calling so much attention to the ad, he’s revealing its truth: that tariffs are an act of American self-harm.”
The head of Canada’s largest private-sector union said the new tariff is just the latest example of Trump deliberately trying to destroy Canada’s economy.
“This is Trump’s playbook: Create a crisis, manufacture excuses to extort concessions, and weaken our bargaining power, with the ultimate goal of obtaining our resources and destroying our industrial economy,” said Unifor national president Lana Payne. “Canada has considerable leverage — and we must use it to fight back.”
Trump said the tariff was being added because the ad was not removed sooner. He is widely believed to have first seen the ad while watching an American League Championship Series game between the Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners.
The Ontario government launched the $75-million anti-tariff ad campaign featuring former U.S. president Ronald Reagan earlier this month. It was being broadcast in the U.S. and was scheduled to run until the end of January.
Late Thursday, Trump announced he was ending trade talks with Canada over the ad.
Trump and Carney will both attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Malaysia. But Trump told reporters travelling with him that he had no intention of meeting Carney there.
Trump said the ad misrepresented the position of Reagan, a two-term president and a beloved figure in the Republican Party. But Reagan was wary of tariffs and used much of the 1987 address featured in Ontario’s ad spelling out the case against such levies.
The U.S. president has complained the ad was aimed at influencing the U.S. Supreme Court ahead of arguments scheduled for next month that could decide whether Trump has the power to impose his sweeping tariffs, a key part of his economic strategy. Lower courts had ruled he had exceeded his authority.
It was unclear what legal authority Trump would use to impose the additional import taxes. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on when the 10 per cent hike would come into effect, and whether it would apply to all Canadian goods.
With files from Star wire services
