By News Editor 
US President Donald Trump has said he will halt all trade negotiations with Canada immediately over an advertisement in which his predecessor Ronald Reagan says tariffs “hurt every American”. The advertisement was actually launched by the government of Ontario as an homage to the former right wing president of the United States.
The advertisement makes reference to an episode in American economic history where president Reagan imposed tariffs on Japan. The 1987 radio speech – Address to the Nation on Free and Fair Trade – begins with Reagan saying Japan’s prime minister will visit the White House and “recent disagreements” on trade will be discussed. Reagan had recently placed tariffs on some Japanese goods over a trade agreement dispute.
By the time he reaches the advert’s opening line, he has set out his aversion to tariffs, described the “prosperity and economic development that only free trade can bring”, and said high tariff legislation made the Great Depression even worse.