A Canadian ad using the words of President Ronald Reagan saying how tariffs hurt all Americans sent President Donald Trump into a complete panic, "saying far more about Trump than it says about anything else," according to the UK's 1News opinion writer James Ball.
The ad, which ran during a Toronto Blue Jays game, featured a narration of "one of Republican America's all-time favorite presidents," Ball noted. "It does not take long listening to the ad to guess why Trump is furious," he added.
“When someone says ‘let’s impose tariffs on foreign imports’, it looks like they’re doing the patriotic thing by protecting American products and jobs,” says Reagan as the ad opens. “And sometimes, for a short while it works, but only for a short time. But over the long run, such trade barriers hurt every American, worker and consumer.”
The ad was paid for by the Canadian province of Ontario, and its premier Doug Ford, a politician and businessman who has served as the Premier of Ontario since 2018. Ford "launched it to protest against Trump’s trade policies to his most loyal heartland voters," Ball
Ford and Ontario, Ball said, are "openly attacking Donald Trump’s most beloved flagship policy – trade tariffs – and are aiming that attack in Republican-held districts. What’s more, they’re co-opting a president many Trump supporters still admire."
Trump's reaction to the ad was fast and furious, posting on Truth Social, “Canada has fraudulently used an advertisement, which is fake,” Trump wrote. "Tariffs are very important to the national security, and economy, of the U.S.A. Based on their egregious behavior, all trade negotiations with Canada are hereby terminated.”
The comments in the ad, taken directly from a radio address to the nation Reagan made in 1987, are not fake.
"Free trade and reduced tariffs were flagship policies of Reagan’s presidency, and Trump’s trade policy is in direct opposition to it, however much he tries to claim otherwise," he wrote. "This is no deepfake."
Ball noted that Trump seems to not know that Mark Carney, not Ford, is Canada's prime minister.
"Trump’s retaliation here is the Canadian equivalent of Trump retaliating against Keir Starmer’s UK government because of a political advert run by the SNP [Scottish National Party]. Once again, national leaders are having to respond to the whims of a US president who doesn’t even bother to wait for the most basic of facts before he acts," Ball said.
Ball said that Trump's tariffs vindicate Reagan's warning against them.
"Every action he takes to disrupt trade with America’s northern neighbor just vindicates Reagan’s warning that 'markets shrink and collapse, businesses and industries shut down and millions of people lose their jobs,'" he said.
And while Trump voters have been "astonishingly relaxed about his antics," farmers are feeling the pain, inflation is spiking and the economy is slowing down. And Trump is aware of all of this.
"Trump’s tariffs make all of that worse, and it might soon hit his own voters in the wallet – and then their tolerance could soon run out. Trump might have been hoping to look strong by lashing out against Ontario’s advert. The danger is that he just looks panicked instead," Ball said.