After threatening Canada more than a month ago with another tariff hike, it seems Trump has lost his taste for the trade war, or maybe he’s forgotten.
It’s like nobody wants to remind the teacher that the homework is due.
Tariff threat in October
Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that he would be raising the tariffs on Canadian goods by 1 percent after the Ford administration ran an ad during Game One of the World Series.
“Canada was caught, red-handed, putting up a fraudulent advertisement on Ronald Reagan’s Speech on Tariffs.“
The ad in question featured clips from a Reagan speech where he was heard saying, “ When someone says, let’s impose tariffs on foreign imports, it looks like they’re doing the patriotic thing by protecting American products and jobs… 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.”
Trump almost immediately had a temper tantrum, posting “TARIFFS ARE VERY IMPORTANT TO THE NATIONAL SECURITY, AND ECONOMY, OF THE U.S.A. Based on their egregious behavior, ALL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED.”
Trump claimed he told the government of Ontario to pull the ad, but they didn’t listen.
“Their Advertisement was to be taken down, IMMEDIATELY, but they let it run last night during the World Series, knowing that it was a FRAUD,”
Yes, it’s a sad look for a world leader to throw a temper tantrum over a fairly tame attack ad (has he ever watched the ones his administration puts out?), but this is the reality in America.
A forgotten threat
It appears as though Trump has forgotten about the threat entirely, and it doesn’t seem like anyone is in a rush to remind him. American reporters haven’t prodded him (as a Canadian, I thank you), and according to reports by Politico, no official paperwork has been created regarding the 10% hike.
Maybe all is forgiven after Carney apologized to Trump at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea.
“I have a very good relationship [with Carney]. I like him a lot, but what they did was wrong. He was very nice. He apologized for what they did with the commercial.”
Maybe Carney can tap into whatever charm newly elected NYC mayor, Zohran Mamdani, hypnotized Trump with over the weekend.
On his side, Doug Ford was unapologetic for the ad, “They’re talking about it in the U.S., and they weren’t talking about it before I put the ad on. I’m glad that Ronald Reagan was a free trader,” Ford said.
According to experts, the 10% hike could seriously jeopardize Canada’s steel-reliant auto manufacturing industry even further than the existing tariffs already have.
One U.S. official suggested the Trump administration had opted to hold off on additional duties—and instead choose to dangle the threat — as the two sides gear up for future talks.