Prime Minister Mark Carney says he apologized to United States President Donald Trump after an Ontario anti-tariff ad aired in the U.S. last week.
Carney made the comments Saturday from South Korea at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit when asked by reporters whether an apology was made.
“I did apologize to the president. The president was offended by the ad, and it’s not something I would have done, which is to put in place that advertisement, and so I apologized to him,” Carney said.
“I’m the one who is responsible, in my role as prime minister for the relationship with the President of the United States, and the federal government is responsible for the foreign relationship with the U.S. government. So, things happen. We take the good with the bad, and I apologized to him.”
This comes after Trump told reporters Friday aboard Air Force One that Carney “apologized” to him for the ad when the two leaders met in Asia earlier in the week.
He added “I have a very good relationship. I like him (Carney) a lot.”
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When Carney was asked Saturday if he initially told Ontario Premier Doug Ford not to go forward with the ad he said “yes,” and added:
“You saw what came of it.”
Ford defended the commercial amid Trump’s backlash saying it “achieved” its goal. He also claimed the ad was cleared with Carney prior to going to air.
After speaking with Carney, Ford agreed to pull the ad after it would air at least twice during coverage of the World Series Championship.
Trump called the ad “fake” and “egregious” and, after seeing it, said he was pausing trade talks with Carney “for a while.”
“I don’t want to meet with him (Carney). No, I’m not going to be meeting with them (Canada) for a while.”
In response to the ad airing in the U.S., Trump also said he would add another 10 per cent tariff on top of additional levies.
Trump did not provide specific details when asked when those additional tariffs will kick in.
“I don’t know when it’s going to kick in,” he told reporters on board Air Force One on Oct. 27. “We’ll see.”
The ad in question included several clips from a 1987 radio address by former U.S. president Ronald Reagan speaking about “free and fair trade,” including how he views the risks of tariffs and some protectionist government policies at the time.
Trump argued the ad took Reagan out of context, saying the former president “loved tariffs” and that the ad “tried to make it look the other way.”
Some premiers, including Manitoba’s Wab Kinew, came to Ford’s defence after Trump’s initial response, saying “these ads are working.”
British Columbia Premier David Eby said the province will roll out its own ad campaign in the U.S. “to explain who wins and who loses” in reference to Trump’s tariffs.
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