Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Saturday said he apologized to President Donald Trump over a controversial political advertisement that quoted former President Ronald Reagan’s 1987 radio address criticizing trade barriers.
The advertisement, which aired on U.S. television networks, showed clips of Reagan warning that tariffs lead to trade wars and economic disaster.
The ad, which used Reagan’s words to criticize Trump’s tariff policies toward Canada, was quickly slammed by the White House. The White House accused Canada of taking Reagan’s words out of context. In response, Trump nixed trade talks with Canada and increased tariffs on Canadian imports by 10%.
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“I did apologize to the president,” Carney said Saturday, speaking to reporters after attending an Asia-Pacific summit in South Korea, according to Reuters.
Carney said he had made the apology privately to Trump when they both attended a dinner hosted by South Korea’s president on Wednesday.
On Friday, Trump said Carney was gracious in his apology.
“He was very nice. He apologized for what they did in the commercial,” Trump said, per Reuters.
Carney said he had reviewed the ad with Ontario Premier Doug Ford before it aired but was opposed to running it. Ford commissioned the ad.
“I told Ford I did not want to go forward with the ad,” Carney said.
Ford, a conservative, previously said that the Oct. 14 campaign ad sought to “take Ronald Reagan’s words and blast it to the American people” on major U.S. networks. He said the ad wasn’t nasty and was “very factual.”
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Despite blowback from the White House, Ford doubled down on his position last week, calling it “the best ad I ever ran,” per Newsweek.
Trump previously slammed the ad, writing on Truth Social that Canada had “cheated and got caught.”
“They fraudulently took a big-buy ad saying that Ronald Reagan did not like tariffs, when actually he LOVED TARIFFS FOR OUR COUNTRY, AND ITS NATIONAL SECURITY,” Trump said in a social-media post last week after the ad was revealed.
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, a nonprofit organization that seeks to continue his legacy, claimed the ad campaign used “selective audio” that “misrepresents” Reagan’s address.
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Meanwhile, Carney met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday and stated that the talks marked a turning point in relations after years of tension.
The trip to Asia was part of efforts to reduce Canada’s reliance on the United States, Carney said.
“It can’t happen overnight, but we’re moving very fast,” he said.
Reuters contributed to this report.
