Toronto·NewOntario Premier Doug Ford is standing by his decision to run an anti-tariff U.S. ad campaign after President Donald Trump halted trade talks with Canada because of it.The ads, which will be paused on Monday, have sparked mixed reactionOskar McCarson · CBC News · Posted: Oct 24, 2025 3:46 PM EDT | Last Updated: 27 minutes agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesIs the anti-tariff ad really to blame for Canada-U.S. trade negotiations breaking down?U.S. President Donald Trump says he’s terminating all negotiations with Canada, blaming an anti-tariff ad that was broadcast to American audiences. But does Trump’s frustrations go beyond the Ontario government-made ad? Ontario Premier Doug Ford is standing by his decision to run an anti-tariff U.S. ad campaign after President Donald Trump halted trade talks with Canada because of it.Still, Ford said the ads would go on pause starting Monday.The ad features a clip of former U.S. president Ronald Reagan speaking about the risks that tariffs can pose for countries that implement them, which Trump decried as “fraudulent.”In a statement early on Friday, Ford’s office defended the advertisement saying that the clip of Reagan, from one of his public addresses, was unedited and available to the public.”President Ronald Reagan knew … that tariffs hurt the U.S. economy, workers and families. He was a strong supporter of free and fair trade between Canada and America,” said Grace Lee, a spokesperson for the premier’s office.WATCH | The anti-tariff ad that made Trump pause U.S.-Canada trade talks:See the anti-tariff ad Doug Ford has been airing in the U.S. Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government paid around $75 million to air this ad, featuring remarks from former president Ronald Reagan, on U.S. television stations — a move that has angered President Donald Trump.In a statement released later on Friday, the premier’s office doubled down on the intent behind the ad, but said it would be put on pause come Monday so trade talks could resume. The ad campaign, which reportedly costs $75 million, and the initial decision to continue to air it, drew significant criticism from Ford’s political opponents.“The best he can say to the plant workers that are losing their jobs right now is ‘don’t worry, we’ll train you for new jobs,’” said Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles at a Queen’s Park news conference on Friday.“They’re saying we want to keep our jobs, help us protect these jobs now. But he’s not interested in that. He wants to go off and wave a flag to get Donald Trump’s attention; the job of the premier needs to be right here in the province of Ontario.”Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles criticized Premier Ford’s $75 million ad campaign in the U.S., saying his focus should be issues within the province. (The Canadian Press)The $75-million campaign cost would have been better spent internally, the Ontario Liberal Party said at a news conference Friday.“Ontario’s economy was hurting long before President Trump and U.S. tariffs. That’s what the premier should be focused on,” said Stephanie Bowman, Liberal MPP for Don Valley West. Both the NDP and the Liberals had called for the ad campaign to be stopped.In a social media post after that, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said she was “pleased” to see the campaign being suspended.However, Ford had some support from Manitoba, where Premier Wab Kinew said “it’s clear that these ads are working” and encouraged Ford to keep airing them.“They’re effective, and this country is behind you,” Kinew said in a post on social media .Ford has also received support from one of Canada’s largest trade unions, Unifor.“Premier Ford … understands that we can’t negotiate from our knees. We need to fight back. We can’t remain silent while we are bleeding jobs, and our workers and industries are under attack by unjust and punitive tariffs,” said the union’s national president, Lana Payne, in a statement.In a statement, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce said it agreed with Ford’s belief that Americans “deserve to know the truth” about tariffs, which the chamber called an “act of massive self harm.”CBC News has reached out to the Prime Minister’s Office for comment. Ottawa was informed of Trump’s decision to scrap the talks shortly before he posted on social media, a senior federal government source previously told Radio-Canada late Thursday.ABOUT THE AUTHOROskar McCarson is a Toronto-based journalist currently working as a web writer at CBC Toronto.With files from Shawn Jeffords and Mike Crawley
Ontario Premier Ford defends anti-tariff ad after Trump halts Canada-U.S. trade talks
