U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Thursday, October 24, that he is terminating trade negotiations with Canada following the release of a television advertisement criticizing American tariffs. The move threatens to further strain the long-standing economic relationship between the United States and its second-largest trading partner.
According to Trump, the decision came in response to an ad released by the government of Ontario, Canada, which used a 1987 speech by former U.S. President Ronald Reagan denouncing tariffs on foreign goods. In the clip, Reagan warned that tariffs harm “every American worker and consumer” and could “trigger fierce trade wars.”
However, the Ronald Reagan Foundation later stated that the Ontario government had used the footage without permission and had “misrepresented” the context of the speech. Although edited, Reagan’s original five-minute address—delivered from Camp David during a period of heightened trade tensions with Japan—emphasized his commitment to free and fair trade, even as he reluctantly imposed certain tariffs at the time.
Trump criticized the ad on his Truth Social account Thursday night, calling it “FAKE” and accusing Canada of fraudulently using Reagan’s words to undermine U.S. trade policy. He claimed the advertisement was an attempt to “interfere with the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court and other courts,” defending tariffs as vital for America’s economy and national security. Trump concluded his post by declaring, “Based on their egregious behavior, ALL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED.”
In a follow-up post on Monday, Trump incorrectly asserted that Reagan had supported tariffs, writing, “They fraudulently ran a big ad saying Ronald Reagan did not like Tariffs, when actually he LOVED TARIFFS FOR OUR COUNTRY AND ITS NATIONAL SECURITY.”
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney responded on Friday, saying Ottawa “can’t control U.S. trade policy” and acknowledging that American trade policy has “fundamentally changed” in recent years. He noted that the U.S. currently imposes tariffs on “virtually all of its trading partners.”
Carney said previous negotiations with Washington had made “a lot of progress” and expressed readiness to resume talks “when the Americans are ready,” emphasizing that renewed discussions would benefit “workers and families in both countries.”
Relations between Washington and Ottawa have remained tense throughout Trump’s presidency, with Canada facing significant economic challenges due to U.S. tariffs on autos, steel, aluminum, lumber, and energy—key exports under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). Canada’s unemployment rate has reached its highest level in nine years as a result.
Despite these tensions, the two countries had recently shown signs of rapprochement. Earlier this month, Carney met with Trump at the White House, where the U.S. president praised him as a “world-class leader.” Canadian Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc later confirmed that both sides had instructed negotiators to work toward swift agreements on steel, aluminum, and energy.
Just hours before Trump’s announcement, Carney had unveiled plans for Canada to double its non-U.S. exports over the next decade, underscoring his government’s strategy to build a more diversified economy “that doesn’t rely on a single trade partner.”
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