Trump halts Canada trade talks over Ontario's Reagan tariff ad
Donald Trump’s “extreme displeasure” with an advertisement aired by a Canadian province was made known after he promptly cancelled tariff negotiations with the entire country.
The Canadian province of Ontario said it would pull an anti-tariff ad featuring former US president Ronald Reagan that prompted current leader Donald Trump to scrap trade talks.
Mr Trump announced on his Truth Social network that he had “terminated” all negotiations with Canada over what he called the “fake” ad campaign that he said misrepresented fellow Republican Reagan.
Less than 24 hours later, Ontario premier Doug Ford said he was suspending the ads after talking to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney about the spiralling row with Washington.
“In speaking with Prime Minister Carney, Ontario will pause its US advertising campaign effective Monday so that trade talks can resume,” Mr Ford said in a post on X.
Mr Ford added however that he had told his team to keep airing the ad during the first two games this weekend of baseball’s World Series – in which a Canadian team, the Toronto Blue Jays, face the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Canadian ad used quotes from a radio address on trade that Reagan delivered in 1987, in which he warned against ramifications that he said high tariffs on foreign imports could have on the US economy.
It cited Reagan as saying that “high tariffs inevitably lead to retaliation by foreign countries and the triggering of fierce trade wars,” a quote that matches a transcript of his speech on the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library’s website.
The Ronald Reagan foundation wrote on X on Thursday that the Ontario government had used “selective audio and video” and that it was reviewing its legal options.
President Trump did not immediately react to the Ontario premier’s decision to pull the ad.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller told reporters that Mr Trump had made his “extreme displeasure” known and was expected to respond later.
A senior US official said that Trump would probably encounter Carney at a dinner on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in South Korea next week.
“They will likely see each other,” the official told AFP.
Mr Trump first vented his fury at the ad late on Thursday, saying it was designed to “interfere with the decision of the US Supreme Court,” which is due to rule on his sweeping global tariffs.
“CANADA CHEATED AND GOT CAUGHT!!!” he said in a new post as he doubled down the following day.
Mr Carney had earlier sought to calm the situation, saying that his country was ready to resume “progress” on trade talks “when the Americans are ready.”
Canada has “to focus on what we can control, and realize what we cannot control,” he added as he headed to Asia.
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FAMOUS NAME TO ADORN NEW WHITE HOUSE BALLROOM
White House sources have revealed the new ballroom will be named after none other than the president himself.
The sources told America’s ABC that White House officials have already started calling the under construction A$460 million building the “President Donald J. Trump Ballroom.”
President Trump refused to be drawn on the rumour but couldn’t resist smiling when asked about it by the outlet.
“I won’t get into that now,“ Mr Trump said, adding he would personally be donating “millions of dollars” to the project.
“Yeah. Well, I also give, you know, I give a lot of money to the White House. The White House is, as you know, I give my salary, and I usually like to steer it to the White House because this house was a little bit abandoned,” he said.
The Trump administration claims private benefactors have pledged A$537 million to the ballroom construction fund – but have not detailed where the additional funds beyond the stated budget will be allocated.
The list of cashed-up donors includes tech companies Google, Meta and Microsoft.
The entire East Wing of the White House has been demolished to make way for the ballroom.
TRUMP TO MEET CHINESE LEADER
Donald Trump is scheduled to meet with Xi Jinping next Thursday in a bilateral meeting that will be part of a multi-country trip to Asia, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed.
His meeting with the Chinese President has been anticipated for weeks as the two economic powers work to reduce trade tensions and new tariffs.
Earlier this week, President Trump suggested the meeting might be cancelled, after signing an $US8.5bn critical minerals pact with Australia that China strongly criticised.
His talks with Xi in South Korea will take place on October 30 on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.
Mr Trump had previously threatened to scrap the meeting amid a flare-up in the trade war between Washington and Beijing, but said he now hoped for a “deal on everything.”
The trip could have huge implications for the global economy.
Global markets will be watching closely to see if the two men can halt the trade war between the world’s two biggest economies, especially after a recent row over Beijing’s rare earth curbs.
The host nations are meanwhile set to roll out the red carpet to ensure they stay on the right side of the unpredictable 79-year-old, and win the best deals they can on tariffs and security assistance.
Mr Trump confirmed he was making a “big trip” to Malaysia, Japan and South Korea, his first visit to the region since he returned to the White House in a blaze of tariffs and geopolitical brinkmanship.
He will leave Washington on Friday, local time, and arrive on Sunday in Malaysia for the ASEAN summit – a meeting Mr Trump skipped several times in his first term.
He is set to ink a trade deal with Malaysia, but more importantly to oversee the signing of a peace accord between Thailand and Cambodia, as he continues his quest for a Nobel Peace Prize.
“President Trump is keen to see the more positive results of the peace negotiations between Thailand and Cambodia,” Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said.
Mr Trump’s next stop will be Tokyo on Tuesday and he will meet conservative Sanae Takaichi, named this week as Japan’s first woman prime minister, on Wednesday.
Japan has escaped the worst of the tariffs Mr Trump slapped on countries around the world to end what he calls unfair trade balances that are “ripping off the United States.”
The climax of the trip is expected to be in Busan, South Korea, where Mr Trump is due to arrive later Wednesday.
Mr Trump will also meet South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, address an APEC lunch with business leaders and meet US tech bosses for dinner, the White House said.
TRUMP PLANS STRIKES AGAINST 'DRUG SMUGGLERS’ IN VENEZUELA
President Trump said US military attacks on alleged drug smugglers from Venezuela could soon be expanded and land attacks could also begin.
“The land is going to be next,” Mr Trump said during a press conference after a roundtable with members of his administration. “
“And we may go to the Senate; we may go to the Congress and tell them about it, but I can’t imagine they’d have any problem with it.”
At least one US B-1B bomber flew over the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Venezuela Thursday, flight tracking data showed, the second such show of force by US military aircraft in a week.
The bomber flight – which Mr Trump later falsely claimed did not occur – comes as Washington carries out a military campaign against alleged drug traffickers in the region, deploying forces that have sparked fears in Caracas that regime change is the ultimate goal.
Data from tracking website Flightradar24 showed a B-1B flying toward the Venezuelan coast on Thursday afternoon before making a U-turn and heading north, after which it disappeared from view.
Asked during a White House event about reporting that the United States had sent B-1Bs near Venezuela, President Trump responded that “it’s false,” while adding the United States is “not happy with Venezuela for a lot of reasons.”
The latest flight came about a week after US-based B-52 bombers circled off Venezuela’s coast for several hours.
The US military described that mission as a demonstration of Washington’s commitment “to proactively deter adversary threats, enhance crew training, and ensure the global force readiness necessary to respond to any contingency or challenge.”
TRUMP OPENS ARCTIC WILDERNESS TO OIL DRILLING
The Trump administration has announced a plan to allow oil and gas drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, one of the largest remaining areas of pristine wilderness in the United States.
The unspoiled expanse of 1.56 million acres is believed to be the surface concealing billions of barrels of oil underneath.
It is a critical habitat for polar bears, caribou, migratory birds and other wildlife unique to the planet.
During his first term, President Trump signed a 2017 tax bill that required two oil and gas lease sales in this Alaskan coastal plain, but the Biden administration later cancelled those leases.
Now, the Interior Department said it would hold an oil and gas lease sale in the coming months and reinstate seven oil leases in the refuge that the state of Alaska acquired in 2021 but that had been cancelled by the Biden administration.
US BLOWS UP ALLEGED DRUG BOAT IN PACIFIC
US forces have bombed an alleged drug smuggling boat operating in the Pacific Ocean for the first time.
After a series of deadly strikes in the Caribbean Sea, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced a vessel had been destroyed in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of South America, marking a new phase in the administration’s war on drugs.
“Yesterday, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel being operated by a designated terrorist organisation and conducting narco-trafficking in the Eastern Pacific,” Secretary Hegseth wrote on X.
“The vessel was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking transit route, and carrying narcotics.”
Secretary Hegseth said two people were on board the vessel in international waters, describing them as “narco-terrorists”.
“Both terrorists were killed and no US forces were harmed in this strike,” he said.
“Narco-terrorists intending to bring poison to our shores will find no safe harbour anywhere in our hemisphere.
“Just as al-Qaeda waged war on our homeland, these cartels are waging war on our border and our people. There will be no refuge or forgiveness — only justice.”
Alongside the post he shared aerial footage of the vessel as it was struck.
More than 30 people have been killed since the US began striking alleged drug smuggling boats last month.
The administration has disclosed at least eight strikes, however this week’s operation was the first in the Pacific Ocean.
AIRPORT DELAYS RAMPANT AS US SHUTDOWN CONTINUES
The US government shutdown has entered its fourth week, becoming the second longest in history, as Donald Trump’s Republicans and the opposition Democrats faced increasing pressure to end a stalemate that has crippled public services.
Federal workers are set to miss their first full pay in the coming days, including tens of thousands of air traffic controllers and airport security agents – an inflection point that helped end the last shutdown in 2019.
The government has been gradually grinding to a halt since Congress failed to pass a bill to keep federal departments and agencies funded and functioning past September 30.
Around 63,000 air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration agents are considered essential workers and expected to stay at their posts during government shutdowns.
Employees calling in sick rather than working without pay – leading to significant delays – was a major factor in Mr Trump bringing an end to the 2019 shutdown, the longest in history at 35 days.
The Federal Aviation Administration issued a ground stop at two Houston airports on Tuesday due to staffing issues, according to a notice on its website, and the aviation industry has voiced fears over worsening absences as the shutdown drags on.
“For every day the government is shut down and employees in the aviation ecosystem are still furloughed, another layer of safety may be peeled away,” Dave Spero, president of the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists union, said in a statement.
Confounding expectations at the start of the shutdown, Democrats have maintained a largely united front as they have repeatedly rejected Republican efforts to reopen the government.
“We’re ready, we’re willing, we’re able to reopen the government to enact a bipartisan spending agreement that actually meets the needs of the American people,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said at a hearing on the impacts of the shutdown.
With no end in sight to the stalemate, Senate Republicans are under pressure to change the 60-vote threshold to advance legislation – known as the “filibuster” – so that they can approve the House-passed funding resolution without Democratic help.
They are hoping to avoid that so-called “nuclear option” and instead turn public opinion against Democrats this week with a measure to safeguard the pay of military personnel and essential federal workers.
The minority party is planning to block the measure, arguing that it cedes further power to Trump while failing to help 750,000 non-essential workers who have been placed on enforced leave without pay.
– with AFP
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