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Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he apologised to Donald Trump for an anti-tariff advertisement produced by Ontario that so enraged the US president he cancelled trade talks between the allies.
On Saturday, Carney told reporters in South Korea, where he was attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, that he had asked Ontario Premier Doug Ford not to launch the television advertising campaign.
“I did apologise to the president,” he said, confirming comments by Trump made on Friday on Air Force One.
Trump this month abruptly terminated trade negotiations in response to the broadcast of the advertisement in the US. He escalated the dispute on Tuesday by adding an additional 10 per cent levy on Canadian exports to the US.
Carney flew to Washington in mid-October to meet Trump in the White House in an effort to mend bilateral relations and rescue a C$1.3tn ($928bn) trading relationship. The meeting appeared to improve the mood between the countries.
Trump told reporters on Friday he had a “very good relationship” with Carney.
“I like him a lot, but what they did was wrong. He was very nice. He apologised for what they did with the commercial,” Trump said.
“It was a false commercial. It was the exact opposite, Ronald Reagan loved tariffs,” he said.
Historians point out that Reagan was outspoken in his opposition to tariffs, which he argued hurt Americans, even though he employed them on several occasions.
The TV ad in question — part of a $75mn campaign by Ontario — cites Reagan, who was known for his free market and anti-protectionist positions — warning that tariffs can appear like the “patriotic thing” but “over the long run such trade barriers hurt every American worker and consumer”.
Trump claims that the ad was a “fake”, even though the voice was that of the late Republican president taken from a radio address in April 1987.
US tariffs on Canadian imports were set at 35 per cent, though there are widespread exemptions for products compliant with the USMCA trade deal Trump signed during his first term. US tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium, however, are set at a higher rate of 50 per cent, which has been a source of tension between the countries.
Carney said that he saw the ad before it was aired earlier this month.
“I told Ford I did not want to go forward with the ad,” he said.
Ontario, which is facing severe economic consequences due to the US tariffs, pulled the ad on Monday.
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