US President Donald Trump has announced he is terminating all trade negotiations with Canada, accusing Ottawa of “egregious behaviour” after a Canadian television advertisement used an edited clip of former U.S. president Ronald Reagan.
“Based on their egregious behaviour, all trade negotiations with Canada are hereby terminated,” Trump said in a post on his social media platform, calling the ad “fraudulent” and “an attempt to influence the U.S. Supreme Court.”
The commercial, which aired on Canadian networks earlier this week, featured Reagan criticizing U.S. tariffs — a move condemned by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation.
Prime Minister Mark Carney responded Friday on a tarmac before departing on a trade mission to Malaysia.
"Look, for months we have stressed the importance of distinguishing things we can control and things we can't control — the trade policy of the United States. We recognize that policy has fundamentally changed from the policy in the 1980s 1990s 2000s and it's a situation where the United States has tariffs against every one of their trading partners to different degrees," he said.
Carney added, "And it's in that context that our officials, my colleagues, have been working with their American colleagues on detailed, constructive negotiations, discussions on specific transactions, specific sectors, steel, aluminum and energy. And a lot of progress has been made, and we stand ready to pick up on that progress and build on that progress when the Americans are ready to have those discussions, because it will be for the benefit of workers in the United States, workers in Canada and families in both of our countries. Now, what we can control absolutely is how we build here at home. That's the focus of budget 2025, generational investment here in Canada."
A senior White House adviser told Reuters that frustrations with Ottawa had been growing for weeks, describing Canada as “very difficult to negotiate with” and showing “a lack of flexibility” on key trade issues.
The abrupt suspension of talks jeopardizes months of discussions aimed at modernizing North American trade ties following U.S. tariff hikes on Canadian steel and aluminum earlier this year.