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Why the US-Canada relationship is on shaky ground

How a TV ad from an Ontario politician reignited Trump’s trade war against Canada

After months of tense negotiations, President Trump has announced that he has terminated trade talks with Canada. The reason: a new Canadian TV commercial featuring an anti-tariff message from an old Ronald Reagan speech. The ad played during a World Series game and ran on various US cable channels, angering President Trump.

The ad is just the latest skirmish between the US and its neighbour to the north. We speak to the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½â€™s senior Canada reporter, Nadine Yousif, about how we got here and what the future has in store for the relationship between the two countries.

Producers: Valerio Esposito and Xandra Ellin
Executive producer: Annie Brown and James Shield
Sound engineer: Travis Evans
Senior news editor: China Collins

(Photo: US President Donald Trump (R) meets Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney (L) in the Oval Office at the White House, Washington DC,7 October, 2025. Credit: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)

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