US President Donald Trump said he didn’t anticipate meeting with Canada “for a while” as he continued to stew over a TV advertisement by the province of Ontario that criticized his tariff regime.
Trump was asked about the possibility of meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who will also be in South Korea for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit later this week.
“I don’t want to meet with him,” Trump said on Monday aboard Air Force One. “No, I’m not going to be meeting with them for a while. I’m very happy with the deal we have right now with Canada. We’re going to let it ride.”
Trump in recent days has said he was increasing the tariff on goods from Canada by 10% over the ad, which features excerpts of former US President Ronald Reagan criticizing tariffs. Ontario Premier Doug Ford had said he would stop airing the ad after the weekend, but Trump has expressed frustration that the Canadian leader didn’t move to immediately pull the commercial, which has aired during US broadcasts of the World Series.
Asked when the additional tariff would kick in, Trump said he didn’t know.
“We’ll see,” he said.
Canada currently faces a US base tariff of 35%, but the rate doesn’t apply to most Canadian goods because of an exemption for products and shipments made within the rules of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Trump hasn’t specified whether the tariff hike would keep that exemption.
The US also has sectoral tariffs that are separate from the base rate. Canada’s steel and aluminum products are subject to 50% US tariffs on foreign metals, and Canadian-made cars and trucks are only partially eligible for exemption from Trump’s 25% tariffs on most foreign autos.
Trump also said he wasn’t swayed by learning that the ad was funded by Ontario rather than the federal government.
“The prime minister knew — everybody knew,” Trump said.
Carney so far has offered a largely muted response to the flap, saying Sunday he was prepared to resume trade talks with the US at any time.
“Canada stands ready to build on the progress that we had been making in our negotiations or discussions with our American counterparts,” Carney told reporters in Malaysia.
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