Donald Trump has done it again. He’s gotten a top official to cave to his demands.
And a foreign leader came groveling to Trump for one embarrassing reason.
President Trump isn’t one to let foreign meddling slide when it comes to defending American workers and jobs. Just this Friday, he revealed that Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney came crawling with an apology over a sleazy ad from Ontario that tried to drag Ronald Reagan into the anti-tariff camp.
Trump, fresh off halting trade talks with Canada in a bold stand against the insult, made it clear: this was a direct hit on America’s fight for fair trade.
“He was very nice. He apologized for what they did with the commercial because it was a false commercial. You know, it was the exact opposite, Ronald Reagan loved tariffs,” Trump said while speaking to reporters on Air Force One.
This whole mess kicked off when Trump pulled the plug on negotiations last Thursday, fed up with the ad’s blatant distortion. Ontario’s own Conservative government, not even Carney’s Liberal crew – cooked up this spot to spotlight Reagan as someone who supposedly hated tariffs.
The ad didn’t hold back in its Reagan clip, pulling from a 1987 radio address where the president warned:
“When someone says, ‘Let’s impose tariffs on foreign imports,’ it looks like they’re doing the patriotic thing by protecting Americans products and jobs. And sometimes for a short time it works, but only for a short time. But over the long run, such trade barriers hurt every American worker and consumer.”
“High tariffs inevitably lead to retaliation by foreign countries and the triggering of fierce trade wars, then the worst happens, markets shrink and collapse, businesses and industries shut down and millions of people lose their jobs,”
“The way to prosperity for all nations is rejecting protectionist legislation and promoting fair and free competition.”
Trump has masterfully wielded tariffs like a hammer, pounding down barriers other nations slap on our exports. Over the summer, he twisted arms from Europe to Asia, striking deals that dodged his full “reciprocal” smackdown. Sure, he kept a solid 10% floor – three times what weak-kneed predecessors tolerated – and cranked rates even higher on big offenders dumping junk on U.S. shores.
Canada? They’re cozy under the USMCA blanket Trump hammered out in his first term, dodging the worst hits like his 25% wall on foreign cars.
But the clock’s ticking toward a renegotiation push as early as July 2026, when Trump can rewrite the rules to squeeze out every last drop of advantage for American families.
Yet even with that shield, Trump isn’t playing favorites when Canada drops the ball. He’s already slapped a hefty 35% tariff on their non-USMCA compliant imports, hammering home Ottawa’s failure to crack down on fentanyl flooding across the border.
Now, over this Reagan-smearing ad? Trump dropped the hammer Saturday: an extra 10% duty coming down the pike. It’s a gut punch to remind Canada that you don’t poke the bear – especially not one guarding American heartland factories from being gutted by subsidized northern timber and auto parts.
This isn’t just about one ad; it’s a wake-up call to every nation eyeing America’s revival under Trump.
Canada’s fentanyl flop is the real outrage here, though. While border agents seize record hauls of death-dealing pills, Ottawa drags its feet.
Trump’s 35% response? It’s a lifeline for communities ravaged by this crisis, courtesy of weak northern enforcement. Add the ad tariff, and you’ve got a one-two punch teaching neighbors that friendship means fighting cartels together – or facing the consequences alone.
Stay tuned to The Federalist Wire.
