U.S. President Donald Trump says Prime Minister Mark Carney apologized for the Ontario government ad that used former president Ronald Reagan’s own words to spread an anti-tariff message to an American audience.
“I have a very good relationship [with Carney]. I like him a lot, but what they did was wrong. He was very nice. He apologized for what they did with the commercial,” Trump said on Friday in a scrum with reporters on Air Force One.
“It was a false commercial. It was the exact opposite — Ronald Reagan loved tariffs.”
The Prime Minister’s Office has not confirmed whether Carney apologized.
On Oct. 14, the Ontario government launched the one-minute ad featuring clips from Reagan’s April 1987 radio address about free trade.
In the full speech, Reagan defends a narrow application of tariffs while condemning their use more broadly. The former president remained an ardent free-trader throughout his time in office.
Days after the ad first aired, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute criticized the Ontario government on social media, and Trump abruptly terminated trade negotiations with Canada, calling the ad fraudulent and “FAKE.”
Ontario Premier Doug Ford agreed to pause the ad campaign, but only after it aired again during the World Series.
