WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Saturday he was increasing tariffs on Canada by an additional 10 percent “above what they’re paying now,” as he reacted again to an ad by Canada’s Ontario province, a day after it was aired during the World Series broadcast.
Trump on Thursday ended trade talks with Ottawa over the tariff-related ad, which Trump said was misleading. Trump announced the higher tariffs in a Truth Social post on Saturday referencing the ad, which features a video of former President Ronald Reagan, a Republican icon, saying that tariffs cause trade wars and economic disaster. The ad had already been running for some days before Trump first reacted to it on Thursday night.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said on Friday that after discussions with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Ontario would pause the US ad campaign on Monday so that trade talks could resume.
The advertisement aired Friday during the broadcast for Game 1 of Major League Baseball’s World Series, in which the Toronto Blue Jays are facing off against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“Their Advertisement was to be taken down, IMMEDIATELY, but they let it run last night during the World Series, knowing that it was a FRAUD,” Trump posted.
“Because of their serious misrepresentation of the facts, and hostile act, I am increasing the Tariff on Canada by 10 percent over and above what they are paying now,” he wrote.
Trump posted the message while he was aboard Air Force One on his way to Malaysia, the first stop on a trip through East Asia that will largely focus on trade issues.
The US Commerce Department, the White House and the office of the Canadian prime minister did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Most Canadian exports to US are exemmpt from tariffs
It was not clear what goods would be affected by Trump’s newly announced tariffs. The majority of Canadian exports to the US are exempt from tariffs because of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) that was signed during Trump’s first term.
The Trump administration in August imposed a 35 percent tariff on Canadian goods not covered by the USMCA. But Canada’s economy has suffered from sector tariffs of 50 percent imposed this year by Trump on steel and aluminum from all countries.
Carney said on Friday that Canada stood ready to resume trade talks with the United States. Trump and Carney will both be at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Malaysia, but he told reporters on Air Force One he has no plans to meet with the Canadian leader.
The Canadian prime minister had removed most of Canada’s retaliatory tariffs on US imports imposed by his predecessor, but White House adviser Kevin Hassett said on Friday that Trump was frustrated with Canada and trade talks have not been going well.
The ad by the Ontario government has a voiceover of Reagan criticizing tariffs on foreign goods while saying they cause job losses and trade wars. The video uses five complete sentences from the five-minute weekly address, spliced together out of sequence.
The ad does not mention that Reagan was using the address to explain that tariffs imposed on Japan by his administration should be seen as a sadly unavoidable exception to his basic belief in free trade as the key to prosperity.
