Ontario Premier says he’s not sorry for ad that blew up US trade talks

ONTARIO, Canada – The leader of Ontario declined to apologise for sponsoring an anti-tariff TV commercial that US President Donald Trump used as a reason to terminate high-stakes trade talks with Canada.

“We have achieved our goal to make sure that conversation starts with the American people and with their elected officials, and my goodness, it’s started all right,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford told reporters at the province’s legislature in Toronto.

“The best ad that ever ran, I’ll tell you.”

His government ran

an advertisement on US networks quoting excerpts from a 1987 radio address

in which former US president Ronald Reagan argued against tariffs, while explaining why he had used them as a last resort against Japan. 

Mr Trump initially gave a low-key reaction on Oct 28, saying he would also air the commercial if he were in charge of Canada. Two days later, citing a complaint from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute, he terminated trade talks with Canada, calling the ad “fake” and “fraudulent”.

After Mr Ford spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, he agreed to pause the ad, but only after running it on Oct 24 and Oct 25 during Major League Baseball’s World Series. On the afternoon of Oct 25, Mr Trump said he would hike tariffs on Canada by 10 per cent, arguing that the ad was an attempt to influence the US Supreme Court’s deliberations about the legality of his tariffs. 

Mr Trump has also suggested, without evidence, that Ontario used artificial intelligence to doctor Reagan’s comments.

Ontario is Canada’s largest provincial economy and has nearly 40 per cent of the country’s population.

The US President on Oct 27 said he does not want to meet Mr Carney, and would not for a while, though they are attending the same international summit in Asia later this week.

Mr Ford said Mr Trump respects strength, so Ontario should not “roll over” for a trade deal.

“My intention was never to poke the President in the eye. My intention was to inform the American people this is serious, and it’s going to cost you jobs if we don’t have a fair trade deal with your closest friend and ally,” Mr Ford said, claiming the ad was merely an “excuse” to end talks.

Ontario’s export-oriented car sector had been neglected in trade negotiations with the US, the Premier said, adding that “there’s no mention of auto anywhere”. Carmakers have delayed new investments in the province in recent weeks due to Mr Trump’s tariffs on the sector.  

Motor vehicles and parts were Ontario’s largest export in 2023, at C$73 billion (S$67.6 billion).

Mr Ford told reporters the government will spend much less than the C$75 million initially budgeted for the ad because it had been scheduled to run into early 2026. The province got its money’s worth, he added, with the spot greatly outpacing the number of expected views – largely because of Mr Trump’s anger about it. 

A spokesperson for the Premier said the ad was expected to get one billion impressions by the end of its run, but has received an estimated 11.4 billion, including those from news coverage and social media. That figure includes people viewing the ad multiple times, the spokesperson said.  

Mr Carney and his chief of staff saw the ad before it went out, Mr Ford said.

Mr Ford dismissed the Reagan Foundation’s claim that the ad was misleading, saying Ontario had asked a US law firm to vet it. In response to the foundation’s threat of legal action, the Premier said: “They can do whatever they want. They’re not going to win.” 

The commercial may have prompted conversation within the upper ranks of the Republican Party. On Oct 26, former vice-president Mike Pence shared an opinion column on social media platform X, alongside a comment that Reagan “was a free trader, no matter what the current president says”. BLOOMBERG