The White House says further trade negotiations with Ottawa are “futile” if Canadians “can’t be serious,” after U.S. President Donald Trump terminated the talks.
Trump announced Thursday night he was ending “all trade negotiations” with Canada because of an Ontario government television ad opposing U.S. tariffs that he called “egregious.”
White House spokesperson Kush Desai said in a statement to Global News on Friday that the “misleadingly edited” ad “is the latest example of how Canadian officials would rather play games than engage with the Administration.”
“The Trump Administration has repeatedly sought to address Canada’s longstanding, unfair trade barriers,” Desai said. “These good-faith efforts with Canadian officials have not led to any constructive progress.
“As President Trump made clear on Truth Social, further talks are a futile effort if Canada can’t be serious.”
Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters before leaving for a trade summit in Asia — where he was set to meet with Trump — that Canada and the U.S. had been making “great progress” in trade talks before they were halted.
But U.S. National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett told reporters at the White House that Trump’s post “reveals his frustrations” with Canada’s “actions and postures” throughout the negotiations.
“I think the frustration has built up over time,” Hassett said. “I’ve been involved in some of these negotiations, and the Canadians have been very difficult to negotiate with.
“If you look at all the countries around the world that we’ve made deals with, and the fact that we’re now negotiating with Mexico separately, it reveals that it’s not just about one ad, that there’s frustration that’s built up.”
Hassett said he had no information on whether Trump still plans to meet with Carney at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea next week.
Global News has asked the office of the U.S. Trade Representative if Trump’s announcement, as well as Hassett’s comment about separate negotiations, means next year’s review of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on free trade (CUSMA) is also impacted.
Asked what has been so challenging about the negotiations, Hassett said there was a “lack of flexibility” on Canada’s part.
“I would guess leftover behaviours from the Trudeau folks that can be very frustrating for people who are negotiating,” he added.
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The Liberals under former prime minister Justin Trudeau caught Trump’s ire during his first term while renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement, which led to CUSMA.
In an interview later Friday on Fox Business, Hassett referred to the termination of talks as “a break” rather than an indefinite suspension.
“Sometimes when you’re frustrated a timeout is the right call,” he said.
“I would guess that sometime between now and the end of his term he’ll talk to Canada again.”
The White House “rapid response” social media channels on Friday highlighted the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute’s statement that said the Ontario ad, which used quotes from a 1987 address by then-U.S. president Ronald Reagan on free trade, “misrepresents” what Reagan said about tariffs.
Desai emphasized on the social media platform X that Reagan said in the speech that America’s commitment to free trade was “also a commitment to fair trade.”
Yet California Gov. Gavin Newsom, in a post on X, pointed to one of the quotes from Reagan’s speech that the Ontario ad used, calling them “the words Trump doesn’t want you to see.”
“When someone says, let’s impose tariffs on foreign imports, it looks like they’re doing the patriotic thing by protecting American products… Markets shrink and collapse, businesses and industries shut down, and millions of people lose their jobs,” Newsom’s post quoted Reagan as saying.
The post further edited down a section of the speech used in the Ontario ad, which itself spliced clips together from the longer Reagan speech — roughly five minutes in length — into a one-minute ad.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, meanwhile, focused on the economic impact Trump’s Canadian tariffs are having in his state.
“Canada is Pennsylvania’s largest trading partner,” Shapiro posted on X. “PA companies export $14B to Canada every year, and Canadian companies employ over 30,000 people here in PA.
“But the President’s policies are hurting our economy, jacking up prices for Pennsylvanians, and closing markets for our businesses.”
Former Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger, a fierce Trump critic, posted a meme calling Trump a “snowflake” and said cancelling trade talks with Canada “because he can’t handle the words of Reagan … makes him look like a buffoon.”
—with files from Global’s Reggie Cecchini
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