President Donald Trump said late Oct. 23, 2025, that he was terminating all U.S.-Canada trade negotiations after Ontario aired a television ad using Ronald Reagan’s 1987 remarks on tariffs, which Trump called “fake.” Ontario Premier Doug Ford later said the province would pause the campaign after this weekend to help restart talks.
President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social late Thursday, Oct. 23, that he was ending U.S.-Canada trade negotiations, citing an Ontario government advertisement he described as fraudulent. “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, adding: “Based on their egregious behavior, ALL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED.” The post also accused Canada of trying to influence an upcoming Supreme Court case on his tariff authority.
The 60-second ad draws on Reagan’s April 25, 1987 radio address on “free and fair trade,” part of a C$75 million Ontario campaign aimed at U.S. audiences. In the spot, Reagan is heard warning that high tariffs can trigger retaliation and “fierce trade wars,” language that appears in the 1987 address. The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute said the ad misrepresents the speech and that Ontario did not seek permission to edit and use the remarks, adding it is reviewing legal options and directing the public to the unedited address. Ontario officials have defended the ad, saying the audio comes from the public domain and reflects Reagan’s long-standing support for free trade with Canada.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said on Oct. 24 that the province would let the ad run through the first two World Series games this weekend and pause the campaign on Monday, Oct. 27, to facilitate a resumption of talks. Ford said he made the decision after speaking with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and that the objective had been to spark a conversation in the U.S. about the economic impact of tariffs.
The ad began appearing in mid-October across major U.S. networks and was slated to air during the World Series, which opened Oct. 24 with the Toronto Blue Jays facing the Los Angeles Dodgers. Trump’s decision escalates a year of tariff fights between the two countries. Since early 2025, the U.S. has levied broad tariffs on Canadian goods under emergency and national security statutes, and Canada has responded with rounds of retaliatory duties. The Supreme Court has scheduled oral arguments for Nov. 5 on whether the president’s use of emergency powers to impose wide-ranging tariffs is lawful.
The tensions come weeks after Carney met Trump at the White House on Oct. 7 in an effort to ease strains ahead of the Agreement’s 2026 joint review under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. The United States remains Canada’s dominant market; more than three-quarters of Canadian goods exports go south, and goods and services trade between the two countries totaled roughly $900 billion (U.S.) in 2024. Tariffs have been felt acutely in Ontario’s auto sector; Stellantis recently said it would shift Jeep Compass production from Brampton, Ontario, to Illinois, a move Ontario officials linked to the cross-border trade climate.
Context around Reagan’s words has also fueled the dispute. While Reagan strongly warned against protectionism and trade wars in his 1987 address, he also justified narrowly targeted tariffs on Japanese semiconductors as a response to unfair practices. That broader record has prompted debate over whether the Ontario ad accurately reflects Reagan’s position or edits his remarks in a misleading way. Ford and his allies say the message is faithful to Reagan’s support for U.S.-Canada free trade; the Reagan Foundation counters that the editing misrepresents the original address.