Brendan Scanland
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Trade tensions between the U.S. and Canada are heating up — again.
President Donald Trump says he’s pulling the plug on all trade negotiations after a TV ad featuring former President Ronald Reagan sparked outrage in Washington.
Trump is escalating his trade tensions with Canada — announcing Thursday night on Truth Social: “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 for $75,000,000. 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,” the post read.
Trump added Friday morning, “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. Canada has long cheated on Tariffs, charging our farmers as much as 400%. Now they, and other countries, can’t take advantage of the U.S. any longer. Thank you to the Ronald Reagan Foundation for exposing this FRAUD. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”
The posts come in response to Canada’s government funding a television ad that featured manipulated audio of Ronald Reagan criticizing tariffs — something the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation says was done without permission.
More than three-quarters of Canada’s exports currently head south of the border, accounting for nearly $2.7 billion in goods and services every day. The U.S. tariffs have already hit Canada’s auto sector hard, especially in Ontario.
“For months, we have stressed the importance of distinguishing things we can control and things we can’t control. We can’t control the trade policy of the United States. We recognize that that policy has fundamentally changed,” said Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
This latest flare-up comes just two weeks after Carney met with Trump at the White House to try and mend trade relations and less than a year before a key review of the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement trade pact.
“I view this as a bump in the road in negotiations,” said Babak Hafezi, adjunct professor of international business at American University’s Kogod School of Business. “So, I believe as part of the negotiation process obviously creates an element of panic for certain individuals, especially on the Canadian side.”
Hafezi says the flare-up could actually help land a deal — as long as it doesn’t get worse.
“It could be a positive thing overall in getting to a yes if it’s a policy perspective. However, if this is continuous, if it is part of a continuing strategy that delays any trade negotiations with Canada, it will ultimately hurt both Canadians and Americans,” Hafezi said.
In any given year, Canada is either the first- or second-best trading partner of the U.S. Each country has historically had a cordial trade relationship, with the U.S. turning to Canada in recent decades for higher production.
“Everything from oil and gas, anything from energy, anything from the intermediary goods, the parts that go into car manufacturing. That’s why we have factories both on the Canadian side and on the Michigan side for production of cars,” Hafezi said.
As trade negotiations continue, Hafezi said there are several factors both sides need to be mindful of.
“Inflation will be a critical factor for us, continuous inflation, because the cost of goods will actually increase. Also, jobs — there’s about 1.6 million jobs that may dissipate that are based in America and about 2.6 million jobs in Canada may dissipate because of this relationship,” Hafezi said. “These things have a really real domino effect throughout the economy.”
