Donald Trump has said he is adding 10% to US tariffs on goods imported from Canada, after the province of Ontario aired an anti-tariff advertisement featuring Ronald Reagan.
Calling the advert a “fraud”, the US president lashed out at Canadian officials for not removing it ahead of the World Series baseball championship.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said in response that Canada was ready “to continue to build on the progress we had been making” in trade talks, but added that it was developing trade relationships with other countries.
Canada is the only G7 country to not reach a deal with the US since Trump began seeking to levy steep tariffs on goods from major trading partners.
The US has already imposed a 35% levy on all Canadian goods – though most are exempt under an existing free trade agreement. It has also slapped sector-specific levies on Canadian goods, including a 50% levy on metals and 25% on automobiles.
Trump said while travelling to Asia on Saturday that he was “increasing the Tariff on Canada by 10% over and above what they are paying now”. Tariffs are paid by the companies that import foreign products, not the exporters themselves.
Three-quarters of Canadian exports are sold to the US, and Ontario is home to the bulk of Canada’s automobile manufacturing.
Carney was asked about Trump’s threatened increase at the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit that both leaders are attending, and said he was ready to continue discussions with one of the country’s biggest trading partners.
“We have a consistent focus in those discussions on doing the best deal for Canadian workers and their families,” he said.
But he said the government could do more than one thing at a time, and it would in the next few weeks release an “ambitious budget that makes generational investments in Canada”.
At the same time, he said, the country was “in the process of diversifying our trade relationships”, which included making deals with many Asean members.
US-Canada trade minister Dominic LeBlanc earlier emphasised that “progress is best achieved through direct engagement with the US administration”.
Trump told reporters accompanying him on Air Force One that he had no intention of meeting his Canadian counterpart during the trip to Malaysia.
His announcement comes after Ontario Premier Doug Ford said on Friday that he would pause the anti-tariff advertising campaign “so that trade talks can resume”, after the US cut off discussions over the advert featuring Reagan, a Republican president and conservative icon.
But Ford said it would still appear through the weekend during games for the World Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Trump responded that the advert should have been pulled down “IMMEDIATELY”. A spokesperson for Ford stood by his statement on Friday.
The advert, sponsored by the Ontario government, quotes Reagan as saying tariffs “hurt every American”. It takes excerpts from his 1987 national radio address that focused on foreign trade.
The Ronald Reagan Foundation, which is charged with preserving the former president’s legacy, had earlier criticised the advert for using “selective” audio and video and said it misrepresented Reagan’s address. It also said the Ontario government had not sought permission to use the footage.
While the minute-long advert only includes excerpts from the original, five-minute-long address, it does not alter Reagan’s words. It does, however, change the order in which he made the comments.
Ford had previously pledged to run the Reagan advert in every Republican-led district in the US.
Responding to the Trump’s rate hike on Saturday, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce said it hoped “this threat of escalation can be resolved through diplomatic channels and further negotiation”.
“Tariffs at any level remain a tax on America first, then North American competitiveness as a whole,” the organisation’s CEO, Candace Laing, told the BBC.
The Reagan advert is not the only way that Ontario – home of the Toronto Blue Jays – is using the World Series as a platform to criticise Trump’s tariffs.
Ford and California Governor Gavin Newsom jokingly made bets about which team would win the series in a social media video on Friday.
Both men repeatedly joked about tariffs in the video, with Ford pledging to send Newsom a can of maple syrup if the LA Dodgers – who are based in Newsom’s state – win.
“The tariff might cost me a few extra bucks at the border these days, but it’ll be worth it,” he wrote.
In response, Newsom asked Ford to resume allowing American-produced alcohol to be sold in province liquor stores, and pledged to send him “California’s championship-worthy wine” if the Blue Jays triumph.
They ended their exchange both declaring: “Here’s to a great World Series, and a tariff-free friendship between Ontario and California.”
