WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump pulled out of trade talks with Canada Thursday night, furious over what he called a “fake” television ad from Ontario’s provincial government. The ad quoted former U.S. President Ronald Reagan from 38 years ago, criticizing tariffs—Trump’s favorite economic tool.
The ad features audio excerpts from an April 25, 1987, radio address in which Reagan said: “Over the long run such trade barriers hurt every American worker and consumer.”
Trump attacked the ad on Truth Social Friday, posting: “CANADA CHEATED AND GOT CAUGHT!!! They fraudulently took a big buy ad saying that Ronald Reagan did not like Tariffs, when actually he LOVED TARIFFS FOR OUR COUNTRY, AND ITS NATIONAL SECURITY.”
The Canadian premier has since said he will pull the ad that prompted Trump to end trade talks with his country.
### Reagan Foundation Condemns Ad
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute criticized the ad on X Thursday night, posting that it “misrepresents the ‘Presidential Radio Address to the Nation on Free and Fair Trade’ dated April 25, 1987.” While Trump called the ad fake, Reagan’s words were real—but context is missing.
### The Facts Behind Reagan’s Stance
Reagan, who held office during a period of growing concern over Japan’s rising economic power, made the address a week after imposing tariffs on Japanese semiconductors. He was attempting to explain this decision, which seemed at odds with his reputation as a free trader.
Reagan did not, in fact, love tariffs. He often criticized government policies—including protectionist measures such as tariffs—that interfered with free commerce. Much of his 1987 radio address outlined the case against tariffs.
He said:
> “High tariffs inevitably lead to retaliation by foreign countries and the triggering of fierce trade wars. The result is more and more tariffs, higher and higher trade barriers, and less and less competition. So, soon, because of the prices made artificially high by tariffs that subsidize inefficiency and poor management, people stop buying. Then the worst happens: Markets shrink and collapse; businesses and industries shut down; and millions of people lose their jobs.”
### Reagan’s Complex Trade Policies
However, Reagan’s policies were more complicated than his rhetoric. In addition to taxing Japanese semiconductors, he imposed levies on heavy motorcycles from Japan to protect Harley-Davidson. He also pressured Japanese automakers into accepting “voluntary” limits on their exports to the United States, encouraging them to establish factories in the American Midwest and South.
He further pressured other countries to devalue their currencies to help make American exports more competitive globally.
Robert Lighthizer, a Reagan trade official who served as Trump’s top trade negotiator from 2017 to 2021, wrote in his 2023 memoir that “President Reagan distinguished between free trade in theory and free trade in practice.”
In 1988, an analyst at the libertarian Cato Institute declared Reagan “the most protectionist president since Herbert Hoover, the heavyweight champion of protectionists.”
Despite this, Reagan was no trade warrior. Discussing his semiconductor tariffs in the April 1987 radio address, he said he was forced to impose them because the Japanese were not living up to a trade agreement and that “such tariffs or trade barriers and restrictions of any kind are steps that I am loath to take.”
### Trump’s Tariff Approach
Trump, on the other hand, has no such reticence. He argues that tariffs can protect American industry, bring manufacturing back to the United States, and raise money for the Treasury.
Since returning to the White House in January, he has slapped double-digit tariffs on almost every country and targeted specific products including autos, steel, and pharmaceuticals. The average effective U.S. tariff rate has risen from around 2.5% at the start of 2025 to 18%—the highest since 1934—according to the Budget Lab at Yale University.
Trump’s enthusiastic use of import taxes has earned him the nickname “Tariff Man.” However, his approach has drawn challenges from businesses and states, claiming he overstepped his authority.
The Constitution gives Congress the power to levy taxes, including tariffs, though over time lawmakers have gradually ceded considerable authority over trade policy to the White House. The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in this case early next month.
### Trump’s Claim on Canadian Ad
Trump claimed Thursday that the Canadian ad was intended “to interfere with the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, and other courts.”
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/24/trump-canadian-ad-tariffs-explainer/