Canada uses Ronald Reagan's voice in an ad opposing tarriffs. Thoughts?

[Cubus]

Canadian province of Ontario is using Ronald Reagan to warn that Donald Trump’s tariffs will cost Americans their jobs.

“We’re going to repeat that message to every Republican district there is right across the entire country,” Ontario Prime Minister Doug Ford said this week, teasing the new ad campaign at a Toronto business luncheon.

The one-minute ad excerpts a 1987 radio address by Reagan to justify imposing 100 percent tariffs on Japanese electronics over a trade dispute over semiconductors.

Reagan’s address warned of the long-term economic perils of tariffs on foreign imports sold to Americans as a protectionist policy and explained they were imposed to sort a particular problem — not to begin a trade war.

“But over the long run, such trade barriers hurt every American, worker and consumer,” Reagan narrates in the ad. “High tariffs inevitably lead to retaliation by foreign countries and the triggering of fierce trade wars. Then the worst happens. Markets shrink and collapse, businesses and industries shut down and millions of people lose their jobs.”

China’s embassy in Washington notably used the same Reagan clip to troll Trump’s global tariffs when the China-U. S. trade war heated up in the spring.

Ontario’s ad will air on Newsmax and Bloomberg this week, according to Ford’s office. It will launch on other major networks and their local affiliates, including Fox, NBC, Comcast, Spectrum, Sinclair Group, CBS, CNBC and ESPN in the next two weeks.

Source: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/16/ontario-reagan-trump-tariffs-gop-ad-00611764

[WindAtMyBack]

Canada is just pissed off that they couldn't continue their one-sided tariffs. They wanted protectionist policies for themselves, but didn't want the US to have them. This type of thinking around the world is exactly why the US should continue with the higher tariffs.

The thing is that conservatives have leaned toward open markets with little to no trade barriers. But we have never truly had open markets. The US has largely open markets, but the same can not be said about many other countries that we trade with. The US has had some of the lowest tariffs in the world. That is not open markets, it's one-sided.

Regan is right, in theory. But not in practice. There is no such thing as open markets. This isn't the first time we've run into this. We don't have a bunch of Japanese auto manufacturing plants in the US today because of open markets. We have them because we cracked down on one-sided trade with Japan. That largely happened during the Reagan administration with protectionist policies.

Most of the countries that complain about the tariffs had higher tariffs themselves. That is not open market. The current tariffs give them incentives to lower their own tariffs. It's working in many cases and bringing us closer to the open markets that Reagan talked about.

[Telekinetic-Potato]

I just think the whole headline about him canceling talks over it... Like what kind of moron wouldn't cancel talks over that?

Imagine you're negotiating with someone and as you're giving and taking on different things, the guy you've been talking to has been running a smear campeign the whole time? Like fuck you.

And if they're spending tens of millions on an ad like that what does that say about what the American government stands to gain from the tariffs?

[Tamera952]

It was an excellent ad. God bless Canada…I ❤️🇨🇦 …. It was smart, and apparently got under the thin skin of Dementia Don, AKA Pres PEDO. (Because he’s got no sense of history, shame, or good sense…. and of course over-reacts and lashes out— how predictable. He’s a fu*king dumbass)

[OlderAndWiser]

I do not condone any country interfering in the political sphere of another country.

[BonzoInBitburg]

What Reagan said would happen when you raise tariffs is happening. Allies become enemies and new alliances are formed. Trust that has taken decades to build is gone in a day. The first rule of business is don't make yourself hard to do business with

[beefcakebradybatson]

Mr. Reagan, with whom I rarely agreed, was spot on about tariffs' job-destroying result. Mr. Trump, a rich incompetent whose only speech sans Daddy's bread, would be "Would you like fries with that?" is too dumb and narcissistic to care or realize the damage he's doing to his country's and the world's economy.

[Apostate_______]

Reagan in his sleep was 10,000 times smarter than Trump and 10,000 times the man Trump is. Reagan knew what he was talking about. Trump doesn't know his dick from a stick in the ground.

[exitseven]

Ronald Reagan used tarriffs during his administration with good results. Canada is using a fake video to try and make it look like they are not screwing the US with their own tarriffs.

[Pohjolan]

Classic economics haven't changed since Reagans time.

Anyway basing economic policies on mood swings isn't ideal for attracting foreign investors.

[DrPepper12]

MAGA can't handle the truth. If they even RECOGNIZED it we wouldn't be in this fucked up dystopian timeline

[Twalli]

Trump's response was to impose 10% tariffs on Canada.

[seeyounexttuesday]

Why do they levy tariffs on US steel and aluminum, then?

[BonzoInBitburg]

Retaliation. All the deals Canada has signed in the last few years with other countries are free trade deals.

[seeyounexttuesday]

@BonzoInBitburg SO isn't this harming their own economy?

[BonzoInBitburg]

Yup. Nobody wins a trade war.

[loveslongnails]

I loved it. LOL

[noohair]

They underestimated the President...