President Donald Trump wasted no time putting America’s interests first when he shut down all trade talks with Canada late Thursday. The move came after Ontario’s government rolled out an ad campaign twisting words from Ronald Reagan to bash tariffs—the very tools Trump relies on to shield U.S. workers from foreign dumping.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who fancies himself a “big Ronald Reagan fan,” greenlit a $75 million push on October 14 to flood American airwaves with spots targeting Republican strongholds. Two days later, he dropped the first one on X, splicing Reagan’s voice from a 1987 radio address to warn that tariffs “hurt every American worker and consumer.” In the clip, Reagan adds, “When someone says, ‘Let’s impose tariffs on foreign imports,’ it looks like they’re doing the patriotic thing by protecting American products and jobs,” before claiming they only work “for a short time.”
But the Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute fired back hard, calling the edit a straight-up misrepresentation of the full address, done without a shred of permission. They’re digging into legal remedies now and urging folks to hear the unedited version for themselves. Trump seized on that, blasting the spot as “FAKE” in a Truth Social post that laid it all out.
“The Ronald Reagan Foundation has just announced that Canada has fraudulently used an advertisement, which is FAKE, featuring Ronald Reagan speaking negatively about Tariffs,” Trump wrote. “They only did this to interfere with the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, and other courts. 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.”
He didn’t stop there. In a follow-up, Trump ramped it up: “CANADA CHEATED AND GOT CAUGHT!!! They fraudulently took a big buy ad saying that Ronald Reagan did not like Tariffs, when actually he LOVED TARIFFS FOR OUR COUNTRY, AND ITS NATIONAL SECURITY. Canada is trying to illegally influence the United States Supreme Court in one of the most important rulings in the history of our Country… Thank you to the Ronald Reagan Foundation for exposing this FRAUD. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”
Back in June, Trump pulled the plug on talks after Canada slapped a digital services tax on U.S. tech giants—a sneaky hit on American innovation that Ottawa backed off from in 48 hours flat. Now, with a Supreme Court showdown looming over Trump’s tariffs, including the 25-35% hikes on Canadian steel and autos, this ad smells like a desperate play to sway justices and kneecap U.S. leverage.
Ford’s crew swears they’re just echoing Reagan’s wisdom, but let’s call it what it is: a foreign power meddling in American affairs, cherry-picking a Gipper soundbite to undermine policies that keep jobs here and factories humming. Reagan himself slapped tariffs on Japanese motorcycles and European steel to defend Detroit and Pittsburgh—hardly the free-trade fairy tale Ontario’s peddling. And timing it for Republican districts? That’s not persuasion; that’s provocation, aimed straight at the heart of the heartland.
Worse, this stunt risks handing a gift to Beijing. With Trump gearing up for high-stakes talks with China, freezing out Canada could scramble supply chains and let the communists fill the void on critical minerals and parts—exactly what our adversaries want. Is this isolated blunder, or part of a bigger scheme where global players team up to erode U.S. borders, one doctored ad at a time? The Reagan Foundation’s lawsuit might peel back layers, but Trump’s already drawn blood by hitting pause on the border pipeline of unfair deals.
Canada has a history of gouging our farmers with duties up to 400%, all while crying foul over fair play. Trump’s tariffs flipped that script, forcing real reciprocity. Now, with talks on ice, expect Ottawa to squirm—maybe retaliatory levies, a dive in the loonie, or frantic calls to restart. But until they own the fraud and back off the court games, America’s staying strong.
Screw with the Orange Menace at your peril.
Sick of Ontario leadership. The Canadians are great but their government is turning into a dictatorship, as was the U.S. before President Trump. Looks like Alberta’s getting ready to break away from Canada and more power to them.