In calling a halt to trade talks with Canada, President Trump pointed to an ad paid for by the province of Ontario that used a speech made decades ago by President Ronald Reagan. In it, Reagan speaks against tariffs, a tool Mr. Trump has widely deployed, including against Canada, and warns against protectionism.
Mr. Trump claimed the ad was fake and that it had been aired “to interfere with the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court,” which is considering a legal challenge to many of his tariffs.
The advertisement, which the government of Ontario Province purchased to air in the United States, uses several sound bytes from a weekly radio address Reagan made in April 1987, though not in the order he said them. Reagan warned Congress not to take broader protectionist action against Japan as he prepared to meet with Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone.
Reagan, a Republican, sought to explain why his administration had imposed high tariffs on Japanese semiconductors over what he called unfair trade practices by Tokyo. But he warned against the dangers of broader protectionism. The speech ended with the warning, “Remember, America’s jobs and growth are at stake” — and the ad ends the same way.
Seated at a desk at Camp David, Reagan said: “Now, imposing such tariffs or trade barriers and restrictions of any kind are steps that I am loath to take.” The tariffs his government had imposed on Japan were an example of “certain select cases,” Reagan said, adding that the United States “maintained our basic, long-term commitment to free trade and economic growth.”
Reagan, a champion of global free trade throughout his presidency, used much of the five-minute address to warn about the pitfalls of protectionism in general terms. Protectionism, he warned, might have some initial success but would eventually slow domestic innovation and spur retaliation from international trading partners, he said.
“Then the worst happens: Markets shrink and collapse; businesses and industries shut down; and millions of people lose their jobs,” he said.
Invoking the Great Depression, Reagan recalled legislation passed in 1930, known as the Smoot-Hawley tariff, that deepened the economic crisis and slowed recovery.
Reagan also used the address to criticize members of Congress calling for protectionist trade legislation that would have required tougher retaliation against countries like Japan. At the time, the U.S. trade deficit with Japan was ballooning, and unions were calling for action against foreign trade violators.
Reagan vetoed that trade bill the following year, but was overridden by Congress. He ultimately negotiated and signed into law a less stringent version.
Lynsey Chutel is a Times reporter based in London who covers breaking news in Africa, the Middle East and Europe.
Ana Swanson covers trade and international economics for The Times and is based in Washington. She has been a journalist for more than a decade.
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