Why did Donald Trump actually scrap commerce talks with Canada?

[ad_1] Donald Trump's preliminary public response to Ontario's anti-tariffs TV advert gave completely no indication that it had triggered him a lot that he would later kick the legs out from below the negotiating desk.

The U.S. president first noticed the advert on Monday night time, three entire days earlier than he abruptly introduced in a social media submit that he was terminating commerce talks with Canada .

Talking on the White Home on Tuesday, Trump depicted the advert as proof that his tariffs are making America wealthy once more and dismissed it as unlikely to have any influence on its supposed viewers.

"I even see overseas international locations — now that we're doing very properly with [tariffs] — taking adverts [that say], 'Do not go along with tariffs!'" Trump instructed an viewers of Republicans.

"I noticed an advert final night time from Canada," he continued, including, "However I do imagine that everyone's too sensible for that."

Trump then shifted to different subjects and went for an additional half-hour with out mentioning the advert once more. He did not as soon as complain about its use of Ronald Reagan's phrases to ship an anti-tariff message to Individuals.

WATCH | 'It isn't nearly one advert,' says Trump financial adviser: Canadians have been 'very troublesome' to barter with on commerce, Trump adviser says

Kevin Hassett, director of the Nationwide Financial Council, instructed reporters in Washington on Friday that U.S. President Donald Trump's social media posts chopping off commerce talks with Canada reveal 'his frustration with the actions and postures of the Canadians by way of months of negotiations.' It is all prompting questions on whether or not the advert is the true motive behind Trump's transfer or if that was merely a pretext to place negotiating stress on Canada.

One in every of Trump's prime advisers says the advert is just a part of the story.

Canada 'very troublesome to barter with' Kevin Hassett, the director of Trump's Nationwide Financial Council, instructed reporters on the White Home on Friday that Trump's submit cancelling the talks "reveals his frustration with the actions and postures of the Canadians by way of months of negotiations."

"The Canadians have been very troublesome to barter with," he mentioned.

"You take a look at all of the international locations all over the world that we have made offers with, and the truth that we're now negotiating with Mexico individually, reveals that it is not nearly one advert, that there is frustration that is constructed up," he added.

What stays unclear is what precisely concerning the negotiations with Canada has been so irritating to Trump.

<img loading="lazy" alt="Carney waves from outside the door of a Canadian government airplane. " srcset="https://i.cbc.ca/ais/5b782da5-d8b9-4b10-b2c1-a31373b76b3f,1761332437708/full/max/0/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C237%2C4360%2C2964%29%3BResize%3D805 805w,https://i.cbc.ca/ais/5b782da5-d8b9-4b10-b2c1-a31373b76b3f,1761332437708/full/max/0/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C237%2C4360%2C2964%29%3BResize%3D1104 1104w,https://i.cbc.ca/ais/5b782da5-d8b9-4b10-b2c1-a31373b76b3f,1761332437708/full/max/0/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C237%2C4360%2C2964%29%3BResize%3D1280 1280w" sizes="(max-width: 762px) 93.6vw,730px" src="https://i.cbc.ca/ais/5b782da5-d8b9-4b10-b2c1-a31373b76b3f,1761332437708/full/max/0/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C237%2C4360%2C2964%29%3B" style="aspect-ratio:1.4709851551956814" data-cy="image-img"/> Prime Minister Mark Carney boards a authorities aircraft in Ottawa on Friday Oct. 24, 2025. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press) Barely two weeks in the past, after what was extensively reported to be a cordial assembly on the White Home with Prime Minister Mark Carney, Trump directed his two prime commerce officers, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Commerce Consultant Jamieson Greer, to take a seat down with the Canadians and attempt to attain fast offers in relation to metal, aluminum and vitality.

The talks started instantly in Washington and plugged alongside by way of mid-October. There was even a report within the Globe and Mail this week {that a} deal was shut sufficient that it might be prepared for Carney and Trump to signal on the APEC summit on the finish of this month.

As lately as Wednesday night, a spokesperson for Canada-U.S. Commerce Minister Dominic LeBlanc instructed CBC Information that progress was being made.

Roughly 24 hours later, Trump slammed the Ontario advert as "FAKE" and introduced "ALL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED."

There are many Canadian observers who suppose the advert is just not the president's actual concern.

"Trump's resolution has nothing to do with the completely justified promoting marketing campaign of [Ontario] Premier [Doug] Ford," wrote Dimitri Soudas, who served as communications director for former prime minister Stephen Harper, in a submit on X.

"Do not let your self be fooled," Soudas mentioned. "Trump desires concessions that no Canadian premier ought to ever settle for. Trump desires to fully annihilate the Canadian automotive sector."

<img loading="lazy" alt="An older television shows an image of Ronald Reagan reading from a script. " srcset="https://i.cbc.ca/ais/5bd1d6a2-9646-459f-af3b-d2edbec16580,1761271557763/full/max/0/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C122%2C1686%2C825%29%3BResize%3D805 805w,https://i.cbc.ca/ais/5bd1d6a2-9646-459f-af3b-d2edbec16580,1761271557763/full/max/0/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C122%2C1686%2C825%29%3BResize%3D1104 1104w,https://i.cbc.ca/ais/5bd1d6a2-9646-459f-af3b-d2edbec16580,1761271557763/full/max/0/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C122%2C1686%2C825%29%3BResize%3D1280 1280w" sizes="(max-width: 762px) 93.6vw,730px" src="https://i.cbc.ca/ais/5bd1d6a2-9646-459f-af3b-d2edbec16580,1761271557763/full/max/0/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C122%2C1686%2C825%29%3B" style="aspect-ratio:2.0436363636363635" data-cy="image-img"/> A nonetheless picture from a Authorities of Ontario commercial at the moment operating in U.S. markets that makes use of a part of a 1987 radio deal with by then-president Ronald Reagan to make a case in opposition to tariffs. (Authorities of Ontario) Lana Payne, nationwide president of Unifor, the biggest personal sector union in Canada, mentioned Trump desires to bully Canada into financial subservience.

"The president's faux outrage over a TV advert is simply his newest ploy to sabotage any progress made by the Canadian negotiating crew," Payne mentioned in a press release on Friday.

So what are the true frustrations? On Thursday — mere hours earlier than Trump cancelled the talks — Ottawa hit Basic Motors and Stellantis with tariffs in retaliation for lowering car manufacturing in Canada.

Brian Clow, who suggested former prime minister Justin Trudeau on Canada-U.S. commerce, says that transfer clearly irked the Trump administration.

"The advert is an issue in that it has induced the president to do what he did, break off the talks. However that is greater than about only one single advert," Clow instructed CBC Information on Friday.

Citing a supply near each the Canadian and U.S. governments, the Globe and Mail reported Friday that Canada's place on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and its consideration of China as a strategic accomplice additionally factored into Trump's transfer

In his social media posts slamming the Ontario advert, Trump drops a not-so-subtle trace of his personal about one thing else that is actually on his thoughts.

“Canada is attempting to illegally affect the US Supreme Courtroom in probably the most essential rulings within the historical past of our Nation," Trump mentioned in a Friday morning submit concerning the advert.

WATCH | Ontario's one-minute advert that makes use of Ronald Reagan's anti-tariff message: See the anti-tariff advert Doug Ford has been airing within the U.S.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford's authorities paid round $75 million to air this advert, that includes remarks from former president Ronald Reagan, on U.S. tv stations — a transfer that has angered President Donald Trump. He claimed the advert was designed to "intervene" with what he referred to as “THE MOST IMPORTANT CASE EVER.”

Whereas the concept that Supreme Courtroom justices would by some means be swayed by a TV advert borders on preposterous, the case is certainly essential.

It's the administration’s request to get the Supreme Courtroom to overturn a ruling by the U.S. Federal Courtroom of Appeals that the president's transfer to impose broad-based tariffs on Canada, Mexico and dozens of different international locations was unconstitutional.

The Supreme Courtroom is scheduled to listen to arguments in November. If Trump loses, the tariffs he slapped on Canada and Mexico over fentanyl trafficking and unlawful immigration could be quashed, together with what he likes to name his "Liberation Day" tariffs.

The case, nevertheless, has no influence on Trump's skill to impose the sectoral tariffs on metal and aluminum, at the moment at 50 per cent, which is what the negotiations with Canada that he simply terminated have been centered on.

Carney did not even point out the advert controversy when he spoke to reporters Friday morning earlier than flying to Asia on a visit that can possible convey him face-to-face with Trump.

"Lots of progress has been made, and we stand prepared to choose up on that progress and construct on that progress when the Individuals are able to have these discussions," Carney mentioned.

Ford's provincial authorities will pull the adverts from U.S. screens after this weekend. What stays to be seen is whether or not that is actually all Trump needed to ship his crew again to the desk with Canada.