President Trump announced Saturday that he is raising U.S. tariffs on Canada by an additional 10% in response to the continued airing of an anti-tariff advertisement created by the local government of the Canadian province of Ontario.
In a post to Truth Social Saturday afternoon, Mr. Trump described the airing of the ad during Friday night’s Game 1 of the World Series as a “hostile act.”
“Because of their serious misrepresentation of the facts, and hostile act, I am increasing the Tariff on Canada by 10% over and above what they are paying now,” Mr. Trump wrote.
The move comes even though Ontario’s leader said the ad would be halted beginning Monday.
CBS News has reached out to the White House for comment on when such an increase would take effect and what imports it would apply to, and to Global Affairs Canada.
Earlier this month, Ontario officials began airing an ad featuring excerpts from a 1987 radio address by the late President Ronald Reagan in which he said tariffs work “only for a short time” and “hurt every American worker and consumer.”
The ad drew the ire of Mr. Trump Thursday, who reacted by terminating trade negotiations with Canada. The president also pointed to a statement from the Ronald Reagan Foundation alleging that the ad had misrepresented Reagan’s original radio address.
Following Mr. Trump’s comments, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said the ad campaign will be put on hold starting Monday “so that trade talks can resume.”
“Our intention was always to initiate a conversation about the kind of economy that Americans want to build and the impact of tariffs on workers and businesses,” Ford wrote on social media Friday. “We’ve achieved our goal, having reached U.S. audiences at the highest levels.”
In his post Saturday, however, Mr. Trump claimed that Ontario officials had indicated the ad “was to be taken down, IMMEDIATELY.”
The president claimed Ontario’s government allowed the ad to run Friday during the World Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers “knowing that it was a FRAUD.”
Trade tensions between the U.S. and Canada have been ongoing for months amid the White House’s global trade war. Over the summer, Mr. Trump hiked tariffs on the country to 35%, though a large share of goods are exempt because they’re covered by the 2020 U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement.
Back in March, Canada imposed 25% retaliatory tariffs on many U.S. products not covered by the USMCA. But in August, as part of efforts to reach a deal on tariffs, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said those retaliatory tariffs were being lifted. The two nations have yet to reach such a deal.
