Trump won’t meet with Carney “for a while” after Reagan ad blunder

Trump said he won’t be meeting with Carney “for a while,” after abruptly ending trade talks with Canada due to an anti-tariff ad campaign commissioned by the Ontario government.

Source: Facebook

U.S. President Donald Trump said he won’t be meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney “for a while,” after abruptly ending trade talks with Canada due to an anti-tariff ad campaign commissioned by the Ontario government.

While Carney has insisted that both sides were close to a trade deal on reducing metals tariffs, Trump halted all negotiations last week in response to Ontario Premier Doug Ford buying up ad space to criticize U.S. tariffs on American networks.

When asked on Monday whether he would speak with Carney while both leaders attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit later this week in South Korea, Trump said the two wouldn’t be meeting for “a while.”

“I don’t want to meet with him,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. “No, I’m not going to be meeting with them for a while. I’m very happy with the deal we have right now with Canada. We’re going to let it ride.”

Carney was asked by reporters whether the U.S. president’s decision to cease trade talks was rooted in something other than Ford’s ad campaign, Carney suggested that people take the U.S. president “at his word, for his reason.”

The Ontario government launched a $75 million ad campaign earlier this month, airing a commercial across U.S. networks featuring excerpts from a speech by former U.S. president Ronald Reagan in 1987 called, “Address to the Nation on Free and Fair Trade.”

The ad compiles some of Reagan’s comments warning that protectionist policies lead to “trade wars,” job losses and economic collapse.

Upon being informed of the ad, Trump decided to end all trade negotiations with Canada.The U.S. president also increased the tariff rate on Canadian imports by 10 per cent as a punitive measure for Ford’s ad campaign. Ford has promised to cease airing the ad after the weekend, however, Trump said that it should have been pulled immediately and not aired during U.S. broadcasts of the World Series.

As for the increased tariffs, Trump said he didn’t know when exactly they would take effect. “We’ll see,” he said.

Meanwhile, Carney has said that Canada is ready to return to the negotiating table as soon as the Trump administration is willing to.

“We’re ready to sit down when they’re ready to do that,” Carney told reporters on Monday, claiming that both countries had recently made “considerable progress in the areas of steel, aluminum and energy” with a “series of very detailed, very specific, very comprehensive discussions.”

However, Trump said that while the ad was funded by Ontario and not the federal government, he still believes Carney was aware of it.“The prime minister knew — everybody knew,” said Trump.