Trump claims Canada 'CHEATED AND GOT CAUGHT' with Ontario tariff ad, calls off trade talks with Ottawa

U.S. President Donald Trump says he is terminating all trade negotiations with Canada over an advertisement by the Ontario government that uses the late U.S. president Ronald Reagan's own words to send an anti-tariff message to American audiences.

In a late-night post to his Truth Social platform, Trump attacked the ad, which he attributed to Canada rather than Ontario, as fraudulent and fake.

"TARIFFS ARE VERY IMPORTANT TO THE NATIONAL SECURITY, AND ECONOMY, OF THE U.S.A." Trump wrote. "Based on their egregious behavior, ALL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED."

In a later post on Friday morning, Trump claimed “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,” he wrote. “Canada has long cheated on Tariffs, charging our farmers as much as 400 [per cent]. Now they, and other countries, can’t take advantage of the U.S. any longer."

Just two weeks ago, after Prime Minister Mark Carney visited the White House, Trump directed two senior members of his cabinet to get a deal with Canada on steel, aluminum and energy.

CBC News has asked the Prime Minister's Office for comment but has not received a response. Ottawa was informed of Trump's decision to scrap the talks shortly before he posted on social media, a senior federal government source told Radio-Canada late Thursday.

The ad that prompted Trump's sudden cancellation of the talks comes from Ontario Premier Doug Ford's government. It contains a minute-long excerpt from then-president Reagan's April 1987 radio address about free trade.

"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," Reagan, a beloved figure among free-market Republicans, says in the voice-over used in the ad.

"High tariffs inevitably lead to retaliation by foreign countries and the triggering of fierce trade wars. Then the worst happens. Markets shrink and collapse, businesses and industry shut down, and millions of people lose their jobs," the ad continues.

Trump had seen the ad earlier in the week, yet did not respond so virulently.

"I even see foreign countries now that we are doing very well with [tariffs] taking ads, 'Don't go with tariffs!'" Trump told a gathering of Republicans at the White House on Tuesday.

"I saw an ad last night from Canada. If I was Canada, I'd take that same ad also," said Trump. "But I do believe that everybody's too smart for that." 

A few hours before Trump's late-night post that said he would be terminating trade talks, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute also took issue with the ad.