Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney confirmed that he personally apologized to President Trump earlier this week following controversy over a television advertisement aired in Ontario that mocked Trump’s tariff policies and invoked Ronald Reagan’s words to argue against them.
Speaking to reporters after the Asia-Pacific summit in South Korea, Carney acknowledged that he had urged Ontario Premier Doug Ford not to proceed with the commercial, but that his advice went unheeded. “I did apologize to the president,” Carney said, according to Reuters. “The president was offended by the act, or by the ad, rather … It’s not something I would have done — which is to put in place that advertisement — and so I apologized to him,” he added later, as reported by the New York Times.
Trump, addressing the incident aboard Air Force One, said the two had spoken directly and described Carney as “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, and they tried to make it look the other way,” the president said. “And he did apologize and I appreciate it.”
The ad, which aired across Ontario and was also slated to run during the 2025 World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays, was produced by Ford’s team despite warnings from Ottawa that it could inflame tensions with Washington. The commercial used edited Reagan clips to imply opposition to tariffs, a move that Trump denounced as “possibly” artificial intelligence-generated and “misinformation.”
In response, Trump retaliated by halting trade discussions with Canada and adding a ten percent increase to existing tariffs, citing the incident as evidence of what he called bad-faith communication from the Canadian side. Despite Carney’s apology, Trump said Friday that he had no plans to resume trade negotiations “at this time.”
Back in Canada, Ford’s allies stood by his decision to run the spot. Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown defended the move, telling CBC, “I support the premier’s approach. It’s got a lot of coverage.” Brown dismissed criticism of the ad’s editing, adding, “And the words are truthful, despite what they’re trying to spin and say that, you know, it’s only a portion of the speech, Ronald Reagan viewed tariffs as taxes that would cost America in the long term.”
The controversy comes as Trump’s tariff policies face judicial scrutiny. The Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments on November 5 in a case challenging the administration’s authority to impose the duties. Trump has accused Canada of attempting to influence that case, further straining relations between the two longtime allies.
In the wake of the uproar, Carney’s apology may have softened the tone but not the tension. For now, trade talks remain frozen — and what began as a local political stunt has spiraled into an international flashpoint between Washington and Ottawa.
{Matzav.com}
