Ontario’s Reagan ad hits Trump where trade wars hurt most

Key topics:Ontario ad edits Reagan’s speech to challenge Trump’s trade stanceTrump halts Canada talks, claiming the ad is “fake” and misleadingReagan historically favoured free trade, opposing broad tariffs.Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa’s bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here..By Brendan Murray.Political advertisements have a long history of taking liberties in how they use material to pack a punch. A Canadian television ad that selectively picked passages from a 1987 radio address by former President Ronald Reagan did that and more.US President Donald Trump late Thursday suspended trade negotiations with Canada, citing the Ontario government ad, calling it “FAKE” and an attempt to sway public opinion heading into Nov. 5 Supreme Court arguments over his authority to impose import taxes broadly.Jason Kenney, the former premier of Alberta, defended the video in a post on X, calling it “a direct replay of his radio address, formatted for a one-minute ad.”Trump posted against on Friday, saying “CANADA CHEATED AND GOT CAUGHT!!!” .Read more:.Canada hits back against Trump with 25% counter-tariffs on $107bn US imports.Meanwhile, Ontario Premier Doug Ford posted Reagan’s full remarks and said the late president “knew that we are stronger together.” Prime Minister Mark Carney said negotiators had been making headway in talks about the steel, aluminium and energy sectors before Trump’s statement. “We stand ready to pick up on that progress and build on that progress when the Americans are ready to have those discussions,” he told reporters in Ottawa.Contrasting Views A close reading of Reagan’s remarks show he thought much differently than Trump does about the benefits of tariffs. The TV ad takes specific audio clips from a radio address Reagan made in April 1987 from Camp David. It amounts to seven sentences of Reagan speaking, against a video backdrop of rural and working-class America.All seven lines from the ad do appear in the transcript of Reagan’s actual remarks, but they’re edited together from different places in the speech. This is standard practice for political ads. The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute said the advertisement used selective audio and video clips and misrepresented the full address, adding that it’s reviewing its legal options.Left out of Ontario’s ad is the context that Reagan was in talks with the US’s chief economic rival in Asia in the 1980s — Japan. His address was aimed at explaining why he imposed new tariffs on some Japanese goods — a move he called a “special case” to counter what the US viewed as violations of their trade agreement. Ontario is Canada’s most populous province and a manufacturing hub, with major steel and auto production, two of the industries most heavily hit by Trump’s tariffs. This is not the first time Trump has been angered by Doug Ford’s tactics. The president objected to a threat by Ontario to impose an surtax on electricity exports to the US. The Ontario government briefly imposed that tax in March but quickly withdrew it. Reagan, a Republican icon admired by Trump’s generation, was a passionate supporter of free trade who negotiated a broad trade agreement with Canada during his time as president.The difficult task he faced in that famous address was to explain why he was using tariffs as a last resort against Japan while fending off staunch protectionists in Congress.The parts of the address included in Ontario’s ad focus specifically on Reagan’s longer-term vision that free trade offered the best path to economic prosperity. “The funny irony here is that in the wake of Trump’s post, now the whole world knows what Reagan said about tariffs as opposed to this just being targeted ads by the Ontario government,” Derek Holt, head of capital markets economics at Bank of Nova Scotia, wrote in research note Friday. “Now the world knows what one of the most respected Republican presidents would have thought of Trump’s trade wars.”Here’s a transcript of Reagan’s five-minute address on April 25, 1987, with the lines Ontario used marked in bold and numbered in order of how they appear in the ad:My fellow Americans, Prime Minister Nakasone of Japan will be visiting me here at the White House next week. It’s an important visit, because while I expect to take up our relations with our good friend Japan, which overall remain excellent, recent disagreements between our two countries on the issue of trade will also be high on our agenda.As perhaps you’ve heard, last week I placed new duties on some Japanese products in response to Japan’s inability to enforce their trade agreement with us on electronic devices called semiconductors. Now, imposing such tariffs or trade barriers and restrictions of any kind are steps that I am loath to take. And in a moment I’ll mention the sound economic reasons for this: that 3) (But) over the long run such trade barriers hurt every American worker and consumer. But the Japanese semiconductors were a special case. We had clear evidence that Japanese companies were engaging in unfair trade practices that violated an agreement between Japan and the United States. We expect our trading partners to live up to their agreements. As I’ve often said: Our commitment to free trade is also a commitment to fair trade.But you know, in imposing these tariffs we were just trying to deal with a particular problem, not begin a trade war. So, next week I’ll be giving Prime Minister Nakasone this same message: We want to continue to work cooperatively on trade problems and want very much to lift these trade restrictions as soon as evidence permits. We want to do this, because we feel both Japan and the United States have an obligation to promote the prosperity and economic development that only free trade can bring.Now, that message of free trade is one I conveyed to Canada’s leaders a few weeks ago, and it was warmly received there. Indeed, 6) (T)hroughout the world there’s a growing realization that the way to prosperity for all nations is rejecting protectionist legislation and promoting fair and free competition. Now, there are sound historical reasons for this. For those of us who lived through the Great Depression, the memory of the suffering it caused is deep and searing. And today many economic analysts and historians argue that high tariff legislation passed back in that period called the Smoot-Hawley tariff greatly deepened the depression and prevented economic recovery.You see, at first, 1-2) (W)hen someone says, “Let’s impose tariffs on foreign imports,” it looks like they’re doing the patriotic thing by protecting American products and jobs. And sometimes for a short while it works — but only for a short time. What eventually occurs is: First, homegrown industries start relying on government protection in the form of high tariffs. They stop competing and stop making the innovative management and technological changes they need to succeed in world markets. And then, while all this is going on, something even worse occurs. 4) High tariffs inevitably lead to retaliation by foreign countries and the triggering of fierce trade wars. The result is more and more tariffs, higher and higher trade barriers, and less and less competition. So, soon, because of the prices made artificially high by tariffs that subsidise inefficiency and poor management, people stop buying. 5) Then the worst happens: Markets shrink and collapse; businesses and industries shut down; and millions of people lose their jobs..Read more:.Four lessons from Canada’s Trump playbook that SA should take to heart: Stephen Harper.The memory of all this occurring back in the thirties made me determined when I came to Washington to spare the American people the protectionist legislation that destroys prosperity. Now, it hasn’t always been easy. There are those in this Congress, just as there were back in the thirties, who want to go for the quick political advantage, who will risk America’s prosperity for the sake of a short-term appeal to some special interest group, who forget that more than 5 million American jobs are directly tied to the foreign export business and additional millions are tied to imports. Well, I’ve never forgotten those jobs. And on trade issues, by and large, we’ve done well. In certain select cases, like the Japanese semiconductors, we’ve taken steps to stop unfair practices against American products, but we’ve still maintained our basic, long-term commitment to free trade and economic growth. So, with my meeting with Prime Minister Nakasone and the Venice economic summit coming up, it’s terribly important not to restrict a President’s options in such trade dealings with foreign governments. Unfortunately, some in the Congress are trying to do exactly that. I’ll keep you informed on this dangerous legislation, because it’s just another form of protectionism and I may need your help to stop it. Remember, 7) America’s jobs and growth are at stake. Until next week, thanks for listening, and God bless you..© 2025 Bloomberg L.P.

Ontario’s Reagan ad hits Trump where trade wars hurt most

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