Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced on Saturday that he had apologized to US President Donald Trump. The reason was an advertisement that used an old speech by former US President Ronald Reagan to convey a message against tariffs. Speaking to reporters in Gyeongju, South Korea, Carney said, “I apologize to President Trump.” Trump was angered. He also stated that trade talks would resume when Washington was ready. The advertisement was run by the Canadian government of Ontario, and Trump became enraged after seeing it. He announced an additional 10% tariff on Canadian goods and halted US-Canada trade talks. The advertisement used the words of former US President Ronald Reagan, in which he described tariffs as harmful to every American. The US already has a 35% tariff on Canada, which has now increased to 45% after the new announcement. This is the highest tariff after India and Brazil.
Trump said, “What Canada did was wrong.” Trump responded to the Canadian Prime Minister’s statement, saying, “I like Carney, but what they did was wrong.” He apologized for the ad because it was false. He claimed that Ronald Reagan loved tariffs and Canada tried to portray it as false. Trump clearly stated that trade talks will not begin now. The ad, which ran during a baseball game, was created by the Canadian state of Ontario. However, after Trump’s outrage, the Ontario Premier said he would withdraw the ad after Sunday. Meanwhile, the ad aired during the first game of the World Series on Friday. A day after this incident, the US President posted on social media about the tariff hike, saying, “Canada has been caught red-handed, running a fake ad featuring Ronald Reagan’s speech on tariffs. Reagan loved tariffs for national security and economic purposes, but Canada said they didn’t.” Trump further said, “Canada should have removed the ad immediately, but they didn’t.” Knowing it was a fraud, it was allowed to run last night during the World Series. The World Series is the annual baseball championship series played between the United States and Canada. Following Trump’s announcement, it remains unclear what legal authority he will use to impose this additional tariff. The White House has also not stated the date on which this 10% additional tariff will take effect. According to the AP, Trump’s tariffs have severely damaged Canada’s economy, and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is trying to work with Trump to reduce them. A JP Morgan report estimates that these tariffs could result in a loss of approximately 1.2% of Canada’s GDP over the next five years. More than three-quarters of Canada’s exports go to the United States, and approximately 3.6 billion Canadian dollars (2.7 billion US dollars) worth of goods and services cross the border daily. In addition to imposing a 35% tariff on Canada, the United States has also imposed a 50% tariff on steel and aluminum. However, most goods imported into the US fall under the US-Canada-Mexico Agreement (USMCA) and are tariff-free. Both Trump and Carney will attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Malaysia. However, Trump told reporters traveling with him that he had no intention of meeting Carney there. ————————— Also read this news related to the Trump-Canada dispute… Trump upset by Canada’s ad, cancels trade deal: The ad cost 634 crores to make, in which the former President was speaking against tariffs. US President Donald Trump announced on Thursday night that he would cancel all trade talks with Canada. He wrote on the social media site Truthout that Canada had fraudulently run an ad in which former President Ronald Reagan was speaking against tariffs. Trump wrote, “The Ronald Reagan Foundation reported that Canada used a fake ad falsely attributed to Reagan. It distorts Reagan’s 1987 speech.” Read the full news…
