Carney made the apology over an advertisement produced by the provincial government of Ontario and airing in the United States, using the words of former President Ronald Reagan to oppose American tariffs on Canadian goods. Omitted from the ad was the fact that Reagan’s speech was, in fact, an announcement of the imposition of tariffs on Japan and that, while Reagan opposed tariffs as a permanent fixture in trade, he often used them as tools to improve America’s trade relationships with other countries.
Carney emphasized that the government of Ontario did not act with federal approval, that Ottawa had ultimate authority over Canadian foreign policy, and that he had personally told Ontario Premier Doug Ford that he opposed the advertisement.
“I did, I did apologize to the president,” Carney confirmed on Saturday. “The president was offended by the ad, and it’s not something I would have done, which is to put in place that advertisement, so I apologized to him.”
In an apparent attempt to enforce authority over the provinces, Carney added, “I am the one who is responsible in my role as prime minister for the relationship with the president of the United States, and the federal government is responsible for the foreign relationship with the U.S. government. So things happen, we take the good with the bad, I apologized to him.”
Carney admitted to the apology after President Trump told reporters that it had occurred during his flight back from South Korea on Friday.
“I have a very good relationship. I like him a lot. But you know what they did was wrong. He was very nice, he apologized for what they did with the commercial,” Mr. Trump said, referring to Carney and the Reagan ad. “He did apologize, and I appreciated it. We had a great dinner, you know, with other countries, as you know, and I think we have a very good relationship, personally.”
The advertisement in question played snippets of a 1987 speech by Reagan in which he stated that, “over the long run,” tariffs “hurt every American worker and consumer. High tariffs inevitably lead to retaliation by foreign countries and the triggering of fierce trade wars.”
The audio clips of the speech play over dire images of struggling families.
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute condemned the advertisement, stating that it used “selective audio and video” and “misrepresents” the speech. The Institute published the full speech that the advertisement used and announced it was “reviewing legal options,” as the government of Ontario “did not seek nor receive permission to use and edit the remarks.”
The website Politifact also published an article condemning the advertisement as misleading.
“The ad did not present Reagan’s remarks in chronological order. It also omitted that during the same speech,” Politifact noted, “Reagan said he was placing new duties on Japanese products because Japan had not enforced a trade agreement. He described this as a special case in which tariffs were justified.”
Trump announced shortly after the publication of the advertisement that he would terminate all trade talks with Canada in response to the “FAKE” ad. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called it “unacceptable.”
“It’s the equivalent of election interference. Nobody likes foreign election interference. Nobody likes foreign governments trying to sway public opinion for their own good,” he said in an interview with CNN on Sunday.
Ford defended his decision in an op-ed published by the Wall Street Journal, claiming that he “admire[s] Reagan and his commitment to free trade.”
“Our government ran an ad featuring the words of President Reagan because we all benefit from being reminded of his wisdom,” Ford wrote. “As the Gipper said, ‘protectionism’ is ‘destructionism,’ and the ‘way to prosperity for all nations is rejecting protectionist legislation and promoting fair and free competition.’”
Carney’s apology is the latest in a string of concessions to the White House since he was elected prime minister in April – shocking behavior given his entire political campaign being centered on challenging Trump and using Canada’s leverage to thwart the American president’s agenda.
Prior to his appointment as the head of the government of Canada, Carney had no political experience; he left a high position at Brookfield Asset Management to enter politics. Carney campaigned for the position in anticipation of a special election in April, which followed the abrupt resignation of his predecessor, Justin Trudeau. As a candidate, Carney regularly promised to singularly focus on fighting Trump.
“We will need to dramatically reduce our reliance on the United States,” candidate Carney promised. “We will need to pivot our trade relationships elsewhere … There will be no turning back.”
Carney declared the American-Canadian relationship “over” and condemned his rival, Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre, as a reliable Trump ally. In reality, Trump endorsed Carney, calling Poilievre “stupid” for distancing himself from Trump and other international conservatives.
“We are going to fight these tariffs with countermeasures. We are going to protect our workers and we are going to build the strongest economy in the G7,” Carney promised in April.
The Canadian prime minister changed his disposition almost immediately after defeating Poilievre – who lost a 26-point polling lead in January and his own Parliamentary seat in the race. During his first visit to the White House, Carney called Trump a “transformational president.” Carney dropped Trudeau-era retaliatory tariffs on American goods in August, and lowered tariffs on aluminum in October.
“Canada and the United States have reestablished free trade for the vast majority of our goods. Canada will retain our tariffs on steel, aluminum and autos as we work intensively to resolve the issues there,” Carney declared in August, rescinding his initial stance during election season.
Shortly before that tariff drop, in July, Carney told reporters he did not see “much evidence” that he was capable of coming to a trade deal with Washington that would eliminate tariffs, abandoning his signature campaign promise.
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