The Reagan Foundation and Trump said the Canadian ad misrepresents Reagan’s words, and that the former president loved tariffs. Historically, however, his stance was a bit more nuanced.
President Donald Trump announced via Truth Social on Saturday that he would be increasing tariffs on Canada by 10%, after Ontario’s provincial government broadcast an ad featuring former President Ronald Reagan discussing U.S. tariffs. Ontario’s government, led by Premier Doug Ford, had said it planned to pull the ad, but not before it aired during Game 1 of the World Series on Friday.
“Canada was caught, red handed, putting up a fraudulent advertisement on Ronald Reagan’s Speech on Tariffs,” Trump posted to Truth Social on Saturday. “Because of their serious misrepresentation of the facts, and hostile act, I am increasing the Tariff on Canada by 10% over and above what they are paying now.”
The ad uses excerpts from an official radio address delivered by Reagan in 1987. One of those excerpts features Reagan saying, “Over the long run, such trade barriers hurt every American worker and consumer.”
Shortly after it was released, the Reagan Foundation issued a statement on X, explaining that the ad uses “selective audio and video,” adding that the message “misrepresents” Reagan’s speech.
None of the words from the presidential address were altered in the advertisement. However, they were taken in clips.
“That’s pretty much every attack ad that you’ve ever heard of,” Rebecca Tushnet, law professor at Harvard University, told Straight Arrow News on Friday. “So no, there’s no requirement to be fair. Even if you think they were being unfair, there’s no requirement to be fair in political discourse.”
In contrast to Tushnet’s description of the ad as relatively harmless, Trump accused Canada numerous times in his Truth Social post of perpetuating fraud.
“The sole purpose of this FRAUD was Canada’s hope that the United States Supreme Court will come to their ‘rescue’ on Tariffs that they have used for years to hurt the United States,” Trump wrote. “Ronald Reagan LOVED Tariffs for purposes of National Security and the Economy, but Canada said he didn’t! 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.”
On Thursday, Ford addressed the fallout in a post on X, writing that the goal of the ad was to “initiate a conversation about the kind of economy that Americans want to build and the impact of tariffs on workers and businesses.” Ford went on to say that the ad would be paused in U.S. households come Monday.
“The people elected our government to protect Ontario — our workers, businesses, families and communities,” Ford added in his post. “That’s exactly what I’m doing. Like I said earlier today: Canada and the U.S. are neighbours, friends and allies. We’re so much stronger when we work together. Let’s work together to build Fortress Am-Can and make our two countries stronger, more prosperous and more secure.”
Despite Trump’s assertions that Reagan loved tariffs, the former president often criticized government policies on them.
The speech used in the ad came after Reagan imposed tariffs on Japanese semiconductors. He used the opportunity to explain why he imposed them, even though it went against his reputation as a free trade advocate.
“High tariffs inevitably lead to retaliation by foreign countries and the triggering of fierce trade wars,” Reagan said in the address. “The result is more and more tariffs, higher and higher trade barriers and less and less competition.”
Reagan again touched on his views about trade eight months later during the 1988 State of the Union address.
“A creative, competitive America is the answer to a changing world,” Reagan said. “Not trade wars that would close doors, create greater barriers and destroy millions of jobs. We should always remember protectionism is destructionism. America’s jobs, America’s growth, America’s future depend on trade. Trade that is free, open and fair.”
Despite many statements like that over his two terms, Reagan’s policies could sometimes tell a more nuanced and complicated story.
Along with the semiconductor tariffs on Japan, Reagan imposed a 100% tariff on Japanese electronics in 1987 and levied tariffs on the European Economic Community on pasta and other food products.
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