Canadian PM says sorry to Trump for anti-tariff ad

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has apologised to Donald Trump for the anti-tariff advertisement broadcast by the province of Ontario, which prompted the United States president to suspend trade talks with Canada, German Press Agency (dpa) reported.

"I did apologise to the president," Carney told journalists on Saturday in response to a question.

"The president felt offended by the ad," he said.

Trump saw the television advertisement broadcast by Ontario as criticism of his tariff policy and subsequently broke off trade talks with Canada.

The advertisement featured the voice of former US president Ronald Reagan commenting on the disadvantages of tariffs. Since the beginning of his second term in office, Trump has made frequent use of tariffs against countries around the world.

The US president said that Reagan's statements had been selectively used and misleadingly put together.

Pause to commercial

After Trump broke off trade talks with the neighbouring country, Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced last week that the commercial would be paused.

He said the goal of alerting the US public to the consequences of tariffs for workers and companies, and sparking a discussion, had been achieved.

But Trump felt the broadcast suspension was not happening quickly enough, and promptly announced additional tariffs of 10 percent against Canada.

As prime minister, Carney said he was responsible for relations with the US and had therefore apologised, even though he had not commissioned the commercial.

Various media outlets also reported that Trump had told journalists aboard Air Force One about Carney's personal apology, which apparently took place on the sidelines of a summit meeting in Asia.

When asked whether Trump would now resume trade talks with Canada, Trump replied with a decisive "no," according to Canada's Toronto Star newspaper.

- Bernama

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