Ontario Premier Doug Ford isn’t backing down after aprovince-produced television spotsparked anger in the Donald Trump White House.
In response to Trump’s Thursday night declaration that trade negotiations with Canada had ended due to the Ontario ad, Ford defended the advert’s content — which featured clips of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan extolling the virtues of free trade.
Canada and the United States are friends, neighbours and allies. President Ronald Reagan knew that we are stronger together.
— Doug Ford (@fordnation)October 24, 2025
God bless Canada and God bless the United States.https://t.co/n1Nj6ofNZU
“Canada and the United States are friends, neighbours and allies,” Ford posted on X Friday morning.
“President Ronald Reagan knew that we are stronger together. God bless Canada and God bless the United States.”
Ford’s office told the Toronto Sun the premier’s post on X will stand as their comment on the affair.
$75M ad campaign meant to ‘blast’ Trump supporters
The ad campaign, which cost $75 million,saw airtime on major U.S. television networksand in the premier’s words was meant to “blast” the message to Americans — especially Trump supporters.
On social media, Trump referenced a tweet posted Thursday evening by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, which described the ad as “misrepresenting” the April 1987 radio address in which it drew its content from, but didn’t go into detail about how the quotes were misrepresented.
The foundation also stated they were “reviewing legal options.”
Listen to President Reagan's unedited remarks here:https://t.co/1gQUcbR4eZpic.twitter.com/iqmjSuypp0
— Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute (@RonaldReagan)October 24, 2025
Trump took to his Truth Social app to express his views.
“They only did this to interfere with the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, and other courts,” Trump posted Thursday night, referring to the November supreme court decision his tariff plans are facing — and referring to the ad as “fake.”
“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.”
In the ad, Reagan remarks that high tariffs “inevitably lead to retaliation by foreign countries and the triggering of fierce trade wars,” resulting in “more and more tariffs, higher and higher trade barriers, and less and less competition.”
Earlier this week, Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said thattalks with the White House were “progressing,”but said more work needed to be done.
The PMO told the Sun that Prime Minister Mark Carney may make remarks on Trump’s comments Friday morning from the tarmac of Ottawa’s airport before departing for Malaysia — time permitting.
Canada and the United States are friends, neighbours and allies. President Ronald Reagan knew that we are stronger together.
— Doug Ford (@fordnation)October 24, 2025
God bless Canada and God bless the United States.https://t.co/n1Nj6ofNZU
Thursday’s response was quite different from Trump’s original reaction to the Ontario ad.
“I saw an ad last night from Canada,” Trump told party supporters Tuesday in Washington.
“If I was Canada, I’d take that same ad also.”
This comes just two weeks after Carney visited Trump at the White House, talks that ended without any hint of a trade deal for Canada.
