Ontario Premier Says Anti-Tariff Ad ‘Achieved Its Goal’

Ontario Premier Doug Ford on Monday defended his province’s controversial ad campaign criticizing U.S. tariffs — a move that led President Donald Trump to halt trade talks — saying it had successfully “sparked a conversation.”

“We have achieved our goal,” Ford told reporters in Toronto, claiming the ads had garnered “over a billion impressions around the world” on social media. “We generated a conversation that wasn’t happening in the U.S.,” he said.

Trump abruptly broke off negotiations with Ottawa on Thursday after the release of the ad, which featured the voice of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan warning against the dangers of protectionism in a 1987 radio address.

Although Ford later announced that the campaign would be suspended starting Monday to allow trade discussions to resume, the ads continued to air on U.S. television during the first two games of baseball’s World Series — featuring the Toronto Blue Jays and the Los Angeles Dodgers — further angering Trump.

In response, Trump announced an additional 10 percent increase in tariffs on Canadian imports over the weekend.

Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, has been hit especially hard by U.S. tariffs, particularly in the automotive sector, where much of Canada’s manufacturing is concentrated.

Ford said both Prime Minister Mark Carney and his chief of staff had reviewed the ad before its release.

On Monday, Trump and Carney were both in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, attending meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), but did not meet. The U.S. president later told reporters he did not intend to meet his Canadian counterpart “for a while.”