Donald Trump terminates all trade talks with Canada over anti-tariff ad

US President Donald Trump has terminated all trade talks with Canada over an anti-tariff TV ad issued by Ontario’s provincial government.

Transcript

00:00Well, this ad was paid for by the Canadian province of Ontario and it quotes conservative

00:08icon and former Republican President Ronald Reagan.

00:12And it uses parts of one of his radio national addresses in 1987 where he criticises tariffs

00:20and says that they hurt every American.

00:23This enraged President Trump.

00:25He was furious that this ad aired across major television networks in the United States

00:30and he called it fraudulent and fake.

00:32Now, while the ad does use different parts of Mr Reagan's speech and uses some of it in

00:39different orders, it doesn't appear that anything that was put in the ad has been altered.

00:45Nevertheless, President Trump says that all trade talks with Canada have now been cancelled

00:50and he accused the Canadians of trying to influence upcoming decisions in US courts over his tariff

00:57agenda.

00:58Now, Canada is continuing to push for some reprieve from his sweeping tariff agenda.

01:04It has been hit by several different tariffs for many of its imports at varying rates.

01:10It's also the United States second biggest trade partner behind Mexico.

01:15Now, the Premier of Ontario, Doug Ford, has already said that he will pause this anti-tariff

01:21ad to allow the President and his Prime Minister to re-engage with talks, but only after this

01:28weekend, meaning that the ad will remain on US television for at least the next couple

01:33of days.

01:34Now, both Mr Carney and Mr Trump are expected to travel to the ASEAN Summit in Malaysia and

01:39so there is every opportunity the two will be able to discuss this issue in person very

01:44soon.