 "Trump threatened to raise tariffs on Canada, he hasn't")
Four weeks after halting ‘all trade negotiations’ in response to an anti-tariff advertisement Ontario ran during the Major League Baseball World Series, President Donald Trump has still not acted on his threat to impose an additional 10% tariff on Canadian imports.
“Because of their serious misrepresentation of the facts, and hostile act, I am increasing the Tariff on Canada by 10% over and above what they are paying now,” Trump had posted on Truth Social on October 25, after announcing two days earlier that he was terminating trade talks over the the ”egregious” ad.
Trump’s announcement left Canadian exporters bracing for the worst: a broad new tariff stacked on top of already high duties, a scenario especially damaging for industries like autos, where components cross the border multiple times before the finished product is assembled.
According to a Politico report, so far, however, the Trump administration has not issued any official instructions to US Customs and Border Protection to enforce the higher tariff, nor have US importers received updated regulatory guidance.
“We monitor the federal registry and follow executive order activity on a regular basis and haven’t seen any changes,” Politico quoted Flavio Volpe, the president of Canada’s Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association, which controls over 90% of independent parts production in Canada, as saying.
The White House declined to say whether the tariff is still planned, but a US official told Politico the administration has held off on raising duties — which could have pushed tariffs on Canadian goods to 45% — choosing instead to use the threat as leverage ahead of future talks.
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View All“The Canadians know what’s on the table,” said the official, granted anonymity to discuss private conversations.
Trump-Carney resolution
Volpe said a personal intervention by Carney in Asia last month may have helped.
“We understand that the prime minister spoke with the president directly about the ads, it may very well be that they settled the matter between them,” he was quoted as saying.
Trump told reporters he had “a very nice” conversation with Carney while they were in Gyeongju, South Korea, in late October for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, and that Carney “apologised for what they did with the commercial.”
Carney later confirmed the apology and said he had told Ontario Premier Doug Ford not to air the ad in the first place.
The spot, which the province spent about $53 million to air during the Toronto Blue Jays’ playoff run, used portions of a 1987 Reagan radio address on the harms of tariffs — a move the Trump administration said misrepresented the former president’s stance.
“Canada was caught, red handed, putting up a fraudulent advertisement on Ronald Reagan’s Speech on Tariffs,” Trump complained in the Oct. 25 post.
“Their Advertisement was to be taken down, IMMEDIATELY, but they let it run last night during the World Series, knowing that it was a FRAUD,” he added.
The Ontario government stopped airing the ad shortly after.
Speaking to Canadian business leaders in Ottawa on Wednesday, US Ambassador Pete Hoekstra slammed the Ontario ad.
“You do not come into America and start running political ads, government-funded political ads, and expect no consequences or reaction from the United States of America and the Trump administration,” Politico quoted him as saying at the 2025 National Manufacturing Conference.
Hoekstra said trade talks with Canada will resume eventually but warned, “it’s not going to be easy,” without mentioning the additional 10% tariff.
One Canadian official told Politico they have received no documentation on the tariff.
Trade talks tensions persist
The US and Canada have a free trade agreement negotiated under Trump’s first term, though the president earlier imposed tariffs on Canadian imports, citing fentanyl flows, steel, aluminum, autos, and lumber. Shipments meeting the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement are exempt.
During Prime Minister Carney’s White House visit in October, both leaders projected optimism on lowering duties. Yet US officials have privately criticised Canada for slow-walking negotiations and resisting concessions, especially on steel and aluminum exemptions.
Canada’s Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc told reporters last week in Montreal that Ottawa is ready to return to talks.
“We remain ready and willing to do that work, but we’re not going to wait around and look at our phones and turn up the notifications to make sure we don’t miss a ding because somebody sent us a text message at 9:30 at night,” he said.
With inputs from agencies
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