Canada PM Carney apologises to Trump over tariff ad

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said that he has apologised to US President Donald Trump over an anti-tariff advertisement which had used a Ronald Reagan quote.

Last week, in response to the advert, Trump suspended trade talks with Canada and said he would impose an additional 10% tariff on Canadian imports.

“I did apologise to the president,” Carney told reporters at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in South Korea on Saturday.

The commercial used a series of clips from former President Reagan’s 1987 national radio address, in which he argued that tariffs would hurt America’s economy.

“Such trade barriers hurt every American worker and consumer,” Reagan said in the speech.

Carney said the advert – which was funded by the province of Ontario – was “not something I would have done” and added Trump was “offended” by it.

Trump said on Friday that Carney had apologised to him and added that the two had a “very good” relationship. But, he said, “what he did was wrong”.

Carney said that Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario who was responsible for the advert, had shown the clip to him beforehand and the prime minister advised him not to go forward with it.

The advert aired during the first two baseball World Series games between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Ford said the TV spot had garnered “one billion views” as well as attention from as far as the UK and India.

The commercial reportedly led to an “expletive-laced tirade” between US envoy Pete Hoekstra and Ontario trade representative David Paterson.

Ford said Hoekstra had made remarks that were “absolutely unacceptable” and said he needed to call Paterson to apologise.

Since taking office, Trump has imposed tariffs on a host of nations, including Canada.

The US has a 35% tariff on Canadian goods, though most are exempt under an existing free trade agreement. Certain sectors, however, have separate tariffs, including 50% on steel and aluminium and 25% on automobiles.

Trump this week accused Canada of using the advert to interfere in an upcoming US Supreme Court case that will weigh whether the president’s sweeping tariffs on Canada, Mexico, China and dozens of other countries are legal.