Ontario Premier Doug Ford is defending a multi-million-dollar anti-tariff ad featuring Ronald Reagan that was blasted at U.S. audiences and which incurred the wrath of President Donald Trump, who cited it when he threatened to impose higher tariffs on Canada over the weekend.
“The message was clear: don’t forget our auto sector,” Ford told reporters Monday when asked about the ad.
The ad, which featured an old clip of Ronald Reagan talking about the negative effects of tariffs, ran on major U.S. networks last week and prompted Trump to break off trade talks with Canada.
But during an exchange with Liberal MPP John Fraser in the legislature earlier Monday, Ford called the ad “the most successful ad in the history of North America.”
He said he’s heard from people around the world about the ad and that the message received between $300 million and $400 million in earned media — a measure of free media exposure through news coverage and social media impressions.
His office later clarified that while they originally expected to garner one billion impressions through a $75 million campaign, they have reached an estimated 11.4 billion impressions over the past seven days through earned media and social impressions.
Fraser shot back at Ford that “Ontarians are paying with their jobs for what you just did,” a reference to Trump’s threat on Saturday to add an additional 10 per cent tariff on Canadian goods because the ads were only paused on Monday so that they could run during the World Series.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said Monday that trade talks had been proceeding well until they were halted because of the tariffs.
However Ford said he’s been waiting months for a trade deal that would protect Ontario’s economy — particularly in the auto sector, where some companies have recently announced they are slimming down on their production in Ontario — and none has yet materialized.
“We’ve been waiting for this deal month after month after month after month,” Ford said. “But this deal has nothing to do with protecting auto workers. We’re here to protect the auto workers, and I don’t think a fair deal is the Americans charge us a 50 per cent tariff on steel, we charge them a 25 per cent tariff on steel. My job is to protect the people of Ontario. That’s exactly what I’m going to do.”
Ford has been saying for months that he thinks Canada should be levying dollar-for-dollar tariffs against the U.S. and that it should not “roll over” for Trump.
Ford told reporters that while he doesn’t have the numbers in hand just yet, the ad campaign will not cost as much as $75 million, as he previously said it would. It was scheduled to run through February, but only ran for around a week.
Speaking with ABC News during a slew of U.S. media appearances Monday, Ford said he has no regrets about running the ad.
“I don’t regret it at all. My intention was to make sure the American people were informed and have a conversation and it really started a conversation,” Ford said.
Trump claimed last week that the ad was “fake” and that Ronald Reagan loved tariffs. However, a comparison of the audio with the full radio address shows that while the clip was edited, the meaning and sentiment of the message in both were the same.
Ford said Trump is simply upset because the ad was effective.
“It’s working,” Ford said, adding that the campaign has generated a conversation, especially among Republicans. He said he doesn’t believe Trump will follow through in his threat to raise tariffs on Canada because of the ad.
He also said Carney and his chief of staff saw the ad before it ran, and the incident has not strained their relationship.
Ontario Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy also weighed in on the ad Monday, saying it helped the province achieve its objective.
“I think it was money extremely well spent,” Bethlenfalvy told reporters at an unrelated news conference.
“It achieved its objective of increasing the narrative and the awareness that a trade war hurts both countries, that it’s in the interests of both countries to get a deal, to get a good deal that’s sustainable, that supports workers. We’re always going to support workers and our businesses here in Ontario, we’re stronger together. And I think the ads achieve that objective.”
