California Governor Gavin Newsom hit out at President Donald Trump, calling him a “man child” after the president announced increased tariffs on Canada as punishment for the Ontario government running ads featuring Ronald Reagan.
In a post made to X, Newsom shared a screenshot of Trump’s Truth Social post, writing, “The man child in the Oval got his feelings hurt, so he is punishing the American people with higher costs.”
Trump wrote in his post, “Canada was caught, red handed, putting up a fraudulent advertisement on Ronald Reagan’s Speech on Tariffs,” referring to the ad run by the government of Ontario that featured a minute-long clip from an address given by the 40th president.
“Ronald Reagan LOVED Tariffs for purposes of National Security and the Economy, but Canada said he didn’t! 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. 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,” he continued.
The video was aired on television after a $75 million ad spend by Ontario Premier Doug Ford. Trump had previously condemned the ad on Thursday, calling it fake and arguing that it was designed “to interfere with the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, and other courts.”
In response to the ad, he suspended trade talks with Canada, America’s second-largest trading partner, having also previously done so in June.
The ad was also criticized by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, who argued that the ad misrepresents Reagan’s address and complained that Ontario did not seek permission to use the footage.
The ad only includes excerpts from the original five-minute-long address, and does not alter Reagan’s remarks in any way; it does, however, change the order in which he made those remarks. Despite this, the meaning of Reagan’s words—his argument in favor of free trade and against high tariffs—was preserved.
Despite Trump’s condemnation on Thursday, the ad aired during the first World Series game on Friday evening that saw the Toronto Blue Jays defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers.
A spokesperson for Ford told CNN on Friday that the ad would be paused on Monday.
In July, Trump signed an executive order increasing tariffs on Canadian goods from 25 percent to 35 percent, with some sectors seeing higher tariffs, including metals at 50 percent.
While many goods are exempt under existing free trade agreements, it is unclear to which goods the additional 10 percent would apply.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and the Office of Prime Minister Mark Carney for comment.
