Earlier this week, U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly halted all trade negotiations with Canada, citing an advertisement sponsored by Ontario, one of Canada’s provinces, as the reason for his decision. The advertisement featured excerpts from an address given by former U.S. President Ronald Reagan in 1987, in which Reagan spoke about tariffs and their impact on the American economy. The ad’s central message was that tariffs “hurt every American.” However, President Trump dismissed the ad as “FAKE,” and the Ronald Reagan Foundation criticized it for “misrepresenting” the former president’s original speech. In response to the ensuing controversy and to help resume trade talks, Ontario announced that it would stop running the advertisement.
The minute-long ad uses Reagan’s own words, taken from a five-minute radio address he delivered in 1987, titled “Address to the Nation on Free and Fair Trade.” The ad’s narration is composed entirely of Reagan’s original statements, but the order of the excerpts was rearranged, creating a different flow and emphasis from the original speech. While the words themselves were not altered, the ad’s reordering of them has sparked debate about whether it faithfully reflects Reagan’s intended message.
The ad opens with the line: “When someone says, ‘let’s impose tariffs on foreign imports,’ it looks like they’re doing the patriotic thing by protecting American products and jobs. And sometimes, for a short while it works, but only for a short time.” These words are taken verbatim from Reagan’s original address, but in the full speech, Reagan delivers this line only about halfway through his remarks. The original address begins by discussing an upcoming visit to the White House by Japan’s prime minister, with whom Reagan planned to discuss recent trade disagreements. At the time, Reagan had imposed tariffs on some Japanese goods due to disputes over trade agreements.
Before reaching the ad’s opening line, Reagan carefully outlines his general opposition to tariffs, emphasizing the prosperity and economic growth that free trade can bring. He also highlights how high tariff legislation had worsened the Great Depression in the past. This context frames the ad’s opening line, which otherwise might appear as a standalone critique.
The next line from the ad states: “Over the long run, such trade barriers hurt every American, worker and consumer.” Reagan did indeed say these words, but in the original speech, they do not immediately follow the previous sentence in the ad. In fact, they are separated by over a minute of speech, and the order is reversed: Reagan first introduces the idea that over the long term, tariffs harm Americans, and only later discusses how tariffs might initially seem patriotic.
In the original 1987 radio address, Reagan explains that he reluctantly imposed tariffs due to some companies engaging in unfair trade practices that violated agreements with the United States. He calls this a “special case,” underscoring that his stance on tariffs is generally negative but that certain circumstances necessitated action. This nuanced position is crucial to understanding his speech’s overall message, which affirms his commitment to free trade while acknowledging the complexities of real-world trade disputes.
The ad then presents the line: “High tariffs inevitably lead to retaliation by foreign countries and the triggering of fierce trade wars.” This is another direct quote from Reagan, but in the original speech, it is uttered several minutes after the previous lines used in the ad. In context, Reagan is warning about the consequences of protectionist policies, explaining that high tariffs provoke retaliatory measures from other countries, triggering escalating trade wars that damage global commerce.
Following that, the ad includes the line: “Then the worst happens. Markets shrink and collapse, businesses and industries shut down and millions of people lose their jobs.” Reagan does say this in the original address, but the ad cuts out important sentences that connect the two lines and elaborate on the process by which tariffs damage the economy. In the full speech, Reagan explains that tariffs artificially raise prices and subsidize inefficiency, which eventually discourages consumers from buying goods. This decline in demand leads to shrinking markets, business closures, and widespread job losses.
The ad then jumps to another excerpt from Reagan’s speech where he says: “Throughout the world, there’s a growing realization that the way to prosperity for all nations is rejecting protectionist legislation and promoting fair and free competition.” This line is authentic and appears in the original speech, but it is taken from a different part of the address and placed earlier in the ad’s sequence.
In the original context,