Trump adds 10% tariff to Canada on Reagan trade ad

president Donald Trump on Saturday said it was imposing an additional 10 percent tariff on Canadian imports in retaliation for what it said was a misleading television ad in which former President Ronald Reagan criticized the tariffs.

“Canada was caught by the police running a fraudulent ad on Ronald Reagan’s tariff speech,” Trump wrote in post on Truth Social.

“Due to their gross misrepresentation of facts and hostile actions, I am increasing the tariff to Canada by 10% above what they are paying now,” he wrote.

Canada generally pays a 35% tariff on goods sold in the US, with exceptions for certain products covered by the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement and other specific product exceptions, such as steel and aluminum, which are taxed at 50%.

Trump criticized the Ontario provincial government late Friday Canada to wait after the first two games of World Series to pause a TV commercial with the ex President Ronald Reagan criticizing tariffs.

“They could have pulled it tonight,” Trump told reporters at the White House as he headed off to Asia.

“Well, it’s a dirty game,” he said. “But I can play dirtier than them, you know.”

Trump cited the ad in his decision Thursday night to trade negotiations with Canada.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford on Friday afternoon said it would halt advertising on Monday so trade talks could resume.

But Ford also said, “I directed my team to continue to get our message to the American people over the weekend so that we can air our ad during the first two games of the World Series.”

Trump said Friday night that he heard Ontario was pulling the ad.

But he also said he didn’t know the government was leaving it until Monday.

The ad aired Friday night during a broadcast to millions of Americans of the first game of the World Series.

This game was won 11-4 by the Canadian Toronto Blue Jays over the American Los Angeles Dodgers.

Toronto is in Ontario and is the hometown of Ford.

Ford, in a tweet earlier Friday announcing the ad break, said: “Our intent has always been to initiate a conversation about the kind of economy Americans want to build and the impact of tariffs on workers and businesses.

“We achieved our goal by reaching the US audience at the highest level,” Ford said, apparently referring to Trump.

“In conversation with Premier (Mark) Carney, Ontario will suspend its advertising campaign in the U.S. effective Monday so trade talks can resume,” he said.

Trump halted trade talks with Canada after allegations of The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute that the ad misrepresented Reagan’s April 25, 1987 radio speech and that his remarks were redacted without permission.

The foundation posted a YouTube video of the speech on its website and urged people to watch it in full.

Ford responded to that criticism earlier Friday by tweeting a link to the same video.

In it, Reagan discussed his recent imposition of new tariffs “on certain Japanese products in response to Japan’s failure to enforce its trade agreement with us on electronic devices called semiconductors.”

That context is missing from the Ontario ad. But the ad accurately captures Reagan’s words: “In the long run, such trade barriers hurt every American worker and consumer.”

The ad also has Reagan, from the same speech, saying, “When someone says, ‘Let’s put tariffs on foreign imports,’ it looks like they’re doing a patriotic thing by protecting American products and jobs.” And sometimes, for a short time, it works – but only for a short time.”

“High tariffs inevitably lead to retaliation by foreign countries and the triggering of bitter trade wars,” Reagan said in the speech and in the ad.

Ford, who calls himself a “big Ronald Reagan fan,” first released the X ad on Oct. 16, days after he said the Ontario government would spend $75 million to run the ad in the United States.

“We’re going to repeat that message to every Republican district, across the country,” Ford said.

Trump blasted the ad in a Truth Social post Friday morning.

“CANADA FRAUDED AND SHOULD BE HIDDEN!!! They fraudulently took a big buy ad saying Ronald Reagan didn’t like tariffs when in fact he LOVES TARIFFS FOR OUR COUNTRY AND ITS NATIONAL SECURITY,” Trump wrote.

“Canada is trying to illegally influence the United States Supreme Court in one of the most important decisions in our country’s history. Canada has long cheated on tariffs, charging our farmers up to 400%. Now they and other countries can no longer take advantage of the US. Thank you to the Ronald Reagan Foundation for exposing this FRAUD.”

In early November, the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in a case that will determine whether Trump had the authority under the law to impose massive tariffs against dozens of countries, including Canada, without the consent of Congress.