Prime Minister Mark Carney visits Toronto Blue Jays personnel at Rogers Centre before game one of the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

WASHINGTON – Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney wanted to make a friendly wager with President Donald Trump: The Toronto Blue Jays would beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series, Carney confidently predicted.

But the bet never got made. Trump never returned his call.

“I think he’s afraid to make a bet – he doesn’t like to lose,” Carney joked while visiting the Blue Jays at Toronto’s Rogers Centre on Thursday, Oct. 23, the eve of the World Series opener.

Before the end of the day, though, Trump had sent his own message to Canada – not about baseball, but about tariffs.

In an angry message posted on social media, Trump announced he was ending trade negotiations with Canada over a television ad that he claimed had made misleading statements about tariffs. Trump argued the ad aimined to influence the U.S. Supreme Court as it prepares to take up a case that could decide the fate of his sweeping tariffs on imported goods.

“TARIFFS ARE VERY IMPORTANT TO THE NATIONAL SECURITY, AND ECONOMY, OF THE U.S.A.,” Trump raged. “Based on their egregious behavior, ALL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED.”

It was the latest in a series of Trump tiffs with the U.S.’s usually affable neighbor to the north. Since returning to office in January, Trump has infuriated Canadians by slapping punitive tariffs on Canadian goods, suggesting Canada should become the 51st state, and showing a generally dismissive attitude toward Canadian leaders, especially former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whom he repeatedly mocked as “governor.”

The latest contretemps came as Americans and Canadians were set to face off in an arena other than politics. The Blue Jays are making their first appearance in the World Series in more than three decades and will try to unseat the defending champs, the L.A. Dodgers.

The White House did not respond to questions about whether Trump is willing accept Carney’s wager on the outcome of the series.

What would Ronald Reagan do?

The 60-second ad that infuriated Trump was set to air during the series opener. The spot, paid for by the Ontario provincial government and not the Canadian federal government, features the voice of former President Ronald Reagan, speaking during a radio address on April 25, 1987. Reagan made the remarks days after he increased tariffs on certain Japanese imports in response to Japan violating a semiconductor trade agreement.

Everything Reagan is heard saying in the ad accurately reflects the remarks he made in the address. However, the ad selects and splices certain lines from the five-minute address rather than playing the remarks in the order they were delivered or reproducing the speech in its entirety.

“When someone says, ‘Let’s impose tariffs on foreign imports,’ it looks like they’re doing the patriotic thing by protecting American products and jobs. And sometimes for a short while, it works, but only for a short time,” Reagan says in the ad, just as he said in the address.

The next line in the ad, however, came later in Reagan’s address. “High tariffs inevitably lead to retaliation from foreign countries and the triggering of fierce trade wars,” the ad says, omitting additional remarks from Reagan before continuing: “Then the worst happens: Markets shrink and collapse, businesses and industries shut down and millions of people lose their jobs.”

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute said the ad “mispresents” the address and that the Ontario government did not receive permission to use and edit Reagan’s remarks.

The White House objected because the ad omitted one particular line in Reagan’s address. “As I’ve often said,” the former president said in the original remarks, “our commitment to free trade is also a commitment to fair trade.”

Trump has argued that the sweeping tariffs he has slapped on imports from Canada and other countries across the world are a response to unfair trade practices against the United States.

The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on Nov. 5 in a case that will decide the fate of Trump’s tariffs, which he imposed unilaterally by citing the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

Lower courts have ruled Trump overstepped his authority under a law historically used for imposing economic sanctions and other penalties on foreign enemies. Trump has said the Supreme Court’s decision is so important that he might attend the court’s arguments in person.

In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump claimed the Canadian ad misrepresented Reagan’s position on tariffs.

“CANADA CHEATED AND GOT CAUGHT!!!” he wrote. “They fraudulently took a big buy ad saying that Ronald Reagan did not like Tariffs, when actually he LOVED TARIFFS FOR OUR COUNTRY, AND ITS NATIONAL SECURITY.”

Reagan said what?

Yet Trump wildly mischaracterized Reagan’s views on tariffs. Reagan made clear in his address that he was not a fan of tariffs. “Imposing such tariffs or trade barriers and restrictions of any kind are steps that I am loath to take,” the late president said.

A few hours after Trump said he was canceling trade negotiations with Canada, Carney told reporters in Canada that U.S. trade policy has changed fundamentally since the 1980s, ‘90s and 2000s.

“The United States has tariffs against every one of their trading partners to different degrees,” Carney said. “And it’s in that context that our officials, my colleagues, have been working with their American colleagues on detailed, constructive negotiations.”

Carney said a lot of progress had been made before Trump terminated the talks. “We stand ready to pick up on that progress and build on that progress when the Americans are ready to have those discussions,” he said.

'Great difficulties'

Trump’s decision to abruptly cancel the negotiations marks the second time in just four months that he has called off trade talks with Canada.

In June, Trump terminated trade talks with Canada over its proposed digital services tax targeting U.S. technology companies. Trump said the tax amounted to "a direct and blatant attack" on the United States. The negotiations resumed days later after Canada canceled the tax just before it was to take effect.

Trump warned in July that trade discussions could again be in jeopardy after Canada announced its support for Palestinian statehood. Trump, an ally of Israel, lamented on social media that Canada’s decision “will make it very hard for us to make a Trade Deal with them.”

“Oh’ Canada!!!” he added.

The latest disruption of the trade talks raised alarms all the way to the Vatican, where Pope Leo, the first Roman Catholic pontiff from the United States, fretted over the ongoing friction between the two neighbors.

Canada and the United States “are experiencing great difficulties," Leo said during a meeting about possible reforms for the church.

"Two countries that were once considered the closest allies at times have become separated from one another,” he said.

Canada is the second-largest U.S. trading partner after Mexico and the largest buyer of U.S exports. It bought $349.4 billion of U.S. goods last year and exported $412.7 billion to the U.S., according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

Meanwhile, Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who first posted the anti-tariff ad on X on Oct. 16, took steps toward a détente with Trump. Ford said the ad would air during the first two World Series games, but would be paused on Monday, Oct. 27, so the trade talks could continue.

Ford wrote on social media that the purpose of the ad was always “to initiate a conversation about the kind of economy that Americans want to build and the impact of tariffs on workers and businesses.”

“We've achieved our goal, having reached U.S. audiences at the highest levels,” he said.

“Canada and the U.S. are neighbours, friends and allies,” he added. “We're so much stronger when we work together.”

And while Trump may be calling the shots in the trade tensions between the two countries, in the World Series, Canada has the upper hand for now.

The Blue Jays blew past the Dodgers 11-4 in the series opener.

Contributing: Reuters

Michael Collins writes about the intersection of politics and culture. A veteran reporter, he has covered the White House and Congress. Follow him on X: @mcollinsNEWS

Joey Garrison is a White House correspondent for USA TODAY. Follow him on X: @joeygarrison

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump, tariffs and the World Series: How a TV ad upended trade talks between U.S., Canada

Reporting by Michael Collins and Joey Garrison, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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