'Fraud Reagan Ad': Why Has Trump Hiked Canada Import Tariff By 10%?

US President Donald Trump said that he is raising tariffs on Canada by 10% on Saturday. He has taken the action following days of fighting over an advertisement, which projected former President Ronald Reagan having views against tariffs, Trump claimed in a post on Truth.

Thursday Trump said that he ended all talks with Canada because of the advertisement, which used excerpts from a 1987 Reagan speech defending free trade and slamming tariffs as an outdated notion, Bloomberg reported.

The advertisement showed that Reagan is saying that tariffs hit every Americans. Trump ordered to take down the advertisement immediately.

Canada is currently facing 35% tariff on its exports to the US. However, the base rate does not apply to most goods exports because of products fall under the US-Canada-Mexico agreement, according to Bloomberg.

Ontario province produced the advertisement. Trump claimed in a post on Truth, quoting The Reagan Foundation, that the advertisement was made with selective audio and video of the former president. The foundation is reviewing legal ways to deal with the situation as perhaps Canadian advertisement producers did not seek permission to use the clips before.

Reagan preferred tariffs for national security and economy, but Canada said that he did not. "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 said in the post.

The White House and Canada's prime minister's office did not provide any comment on Saturday, Bloomberg reported.

Trump alleged that Canada intended to manipulate the US Supreme Court to save the country from the US tariffs. His remarks come as he headed to a trip to South Asian countries.

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