Washington DC: US President Donald Trump on Friday slammed Canada, accusing Ottawa of “cheating” and attempting to “illegally influence” the US Supreme Court through what he called a “fraudulent” advertisement featuring former US President Ronald Reagan. The 'fake' advertisement showed Reagan, criticising tarrifs.
Trump also terminated all trade talks with Canada. Trump said Canada was cheating the US and got caught.
“Canada cheated and got caught!!!” Trump wrote on social media platform on Friday. “They fraudulently took a big buy ad saying that Ronald Reagan did not like tariffs, when actually he loved tariffs for our country, and its national security."
He alleged that Canada was trying to “illegally influence the United States Supreme Court in one of the most important rulings in the history of our Country.”
Trump further said, "Canada has long cheated on Tariffs, charging our farmers as much as 400%. Now they, and other countries, can’t take advantage of the U.S. any longer. Thank you to the Ronald Reagan Foundation for exposing this FRAUD. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!"
Trump's Truth Social Post |
Notably, the court is scheduled to hear the pending case on November 5 regarding the legality of President Trump’s global tariff policies.
The controversy stems from a Canadian political advertisement that used an edited audio of Reagan criticizing tariffs and warning that they could trigger trade wars and economic hardship.
The ad starts with Reagan 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, and sometimes for a short while it works, but only for a short time. But over the long run, such trade barriers hurt every American worker and consumer".
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation also slammed the ad, stating that it used “selective audio and video” and that consent had not been granted for its use. “The ad misrepresents the Presidential Radio Address... and the Government of Ontario did not seek nor receive permission to use and edit the remarks,” the foundation said in a statement.
