Canada-U.S. news — U.S. President Donald Trump announced an additional 10 per cent tariff on Canada on Saturday because the Ontario government didn’t immediately pull down an anti-tariff ad it was running in U.S. markets. A $75-million ad campaign featuring Ronald Reagan. A Friday night World Series broadcast. And now, a brand new tariff on top of everything Canada is already paying.
By Maplestime News Desk | Ottawa, Ontario | September 19, 2026
Sources: The Canadian Press, The Associated Press, The New York Times | Last updated: September 19, 2026
Key Takeaways
- Trump announced an extra 10% tariff on Canada on Saturday, October 25, 2025, over Ontario’s anti-tariff ad campaign
- Ontario’s $75-million campaign featured former president Ronald Reagan warning about tariffs and ran during the World Series
- Trump had already ended trade talks with Canada over the ad on Thursday; Premier Doug Ford agreed Friday to pull the ad by Monday
- Canada already faces 35% on non-CUSMA goods plus sectoral duties of 25–50% on steel, aluminum, copper, lumber and autos
- Auto parts chief Flavio Volpe: “a TV commercial is about to cost American consumers about $50B”
How a TV Ad Became a Trade Escalation
“Because of their serious misrepresentation of the facts, and hostile act, I am increasing the Tariff on Canada by 10 per cent over and above what they are paying now,” Trump said in a post on his social media platform Truth Social.
“Their Advertisement was to be taken down, IMMEDIATELY, but they let it run last night during the World Series, knowing that it was a FRAUD,” Trump said as he flew aboard Air Force One to Malaysia.
The Ontario government launched the $75-million anti-tariff campaign featuring Reagan earlier in October, scheduled to run until the end of January. The ads aired on right-wing networks like Newsmax and Fox News — and during the World Series, where the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night.
Ford Pulls the Ad — But Not Fast Enough
The timeline moved fast. Late Thursday, Trump announced he was ending trade talks with Canada over the ad. Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced Friday the government would pull the ad in hopes of restarting trade talks — but not until Monday, so the spots could play through the first two World Series games in front of a massive American audience.
Ford said he decided to pull the campaign after speaking with Prime Minister Mark Carney. “We’ve achieved our goal, having reached U.S. audiences at the highest levels,” Ford said in a media statement Friday. A spokeswoman for Ford said after Trump’s Saturday announcement that the premier’s Friday statement stands.
Standing on the tarmac outside Ottawa’s airport Friday morning before leaving for Asia, Carney said Canada can’t control a U.S. trade policy that has “fundamentally changed.” He said his officials had been working with Americans on constructive, detailed negotiations on sector-specific tariffs like steel, aluminum and energy, and that “a lot of progress has been made.”
Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said Canada stands “ready to build on the progress made in constructive discussions with American counterparts over the course of recent weeks” — without directly mentioning the new threat.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said in a social media post that Canada wouldn’t be facing the tariff hike if Carney had kept his promise to negotiate a win.
The Tariff Stack Canada Is Already Paying
It wasn’t immediately clear what the new tariff would apply to or when it would take effect — neither the White House nor Carney’s office responded to requests for comment. But the new levy sits on top of a pile Trump has been building since January.
Canada’s main tariff is 35% on all goods not compliant with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement. On top of that: sectoral duties mostly between 25 and 50% on steel, aluminum, copper, softwood lumber and automobiles. Canada’s auto sector is among the hardest hit.
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Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association, said the additional tariff will hurt Americans most: “To be clear, a TV commercial is about to cost American consumers about $50B because he’s mad.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom accused Trump of “punishing the American people with higher costs” because he “got his feelings hurt.”
Was the Ad a Fraud?
The ad features footage of Reagan warning about the economically devastating effects of tariffs. A New York Times analysis of the ad and the original speech, published Saturday, concluded that while the ad reordered parts of the 1987 speech, it did not misrepresent or alter what Reagan said. Reagan was genuinely wary of tariffs and spent much of that address making the case against them.
When the ads launched, Ford said he intended to blast Reagan’s anti-tariff message on repeat to “every Republican district there is right across the entire country.” He said Friday the intention was to start a conversation about the kind of economy Americans want — and the goal was reached.
Trump also complained the ad aimed to influence the U.S. Supreme Court ahead of arguments that could decide whether he has the power to impose his sweeping tariffs at all.
Carney is already in Malaysia at the ASEAN summit. He and Trump have no plan to meet or speak there, and Trump told reporters travelling with him he had no intention of meeting Carney.
Maplestime will provide updates from the Canada-U.S. trade war as announcements are made.
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Was Ford’s $75-million Reagan ad worth an extra 10% tariff — or did Ontario just buy Canada a trade war with its own money? Tell us in the comments. And share this with every Canadian watching the U.S. relationship unravel.
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