WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump halted Canada-U.S. trade talks last week in an angry response to a TV ad run by Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government featuring Ronald Reagan’s 1987 comments criticizing tariffs. “Ronald Reagan loved tariffs,” Trump said, labelling the ad “fraudulent.”

For insights into Reagan’s trade views and Trump’s response, National Post turned to Doug Irwin, a professor of economics at Dartmouth College and former staffer on Reagan’s Council of Economic Advisers. Irwin has written extensively about trade and recently published a New York Times op-ed about Trump’s response to the ad and Reagan’s legacy.

Q: How would you describe Ronald Reagan’s core political principles regarding free trade — what you’ve described as the three Ps?

A: The first P is for P

See Full Page