OTTAWA — President Donald Trump abruptly halted “all trade negotiations” with Canada late Thursday night over an ad that enlisted the voice of Ronald Reagan to oppose U.S. tariffs. Ontario Premier Doug Ford predicted earlier this week that the president would not be “too happy” with the 60-second spot his province produced to warn Americans that Trump’s tariffs could ultimately kill their jobs. “The Ronald Reagan Foundation has just announced that Canada has fraudulently used an advertisement, which is FAKE, featuring Ronald Reagan speaking negatively about Tariffs,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “They only did this to interfere with the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, and other courts. TARIFFS ARE VERY IMPORTANT TO THE NATIONAL SECURITY, AND ECONOMY, OF THE U.S.A. Based on their egregious behavior, ALL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED.” Earlier in the evening, The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation hit back at the ad, saying it “misrepresents” Reagan’s presidential radio address on April 25, 1987, which was focused on free and fair trade. The foundation said the Government of Ontario “did not seek nor receive permission to use and edit the remarks” and that it is reviewing its legal options. “We encourage you to watch President Reagan’s unedited video on our YouTube channel.” The offices of Prime Minister Mark Carney and Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said they would not be commenting on Thursday, but they would likely have more to say on Friday. “The commercial uses an unedited excerpt from one of President Reagan’s public addresses, which is available through public domain,” a spokesperson for Ford said in an email to CBC News. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. “The quote of former President Ronald Reagan was recognizing that ultimately somebody pays the tariff — and it’s the consumer,” Carney said when asked about it during an interview last week with Toronto’s RED-FM. “The company passes it on, the price goes up eventually, and you pay the cost of the tariff.” Trump has imposed double-digit tariffs on Canada’s steel, aluminum, auto, lumber and copper sectors. The president has said he is open to renegotiating the United States–Mexico–Canada Free Trade Agreement, but has also left open the possibility of abandoning the framework altogether. Carney, a former central bank governor in Canada and Britain, continued: “As an economist, I say that if somebody is trading fairly, it’s better not to have tariffs between those countries.” The prime minister noted that Trump’s White House is committed to tariffs. “I don’t agree with their policy, but I recognize that is their policy, and I don’t expect it to change.”LeBlanc and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick had a meeting scheduled for this week, an official familiar with the trade negotiations told POLITICO. They were granted anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the matter. It’s unclear if the two had met, or if the Liberal government received a heads-up. Carney was previously blindsided by the president in June when Trump halted trade negotiations over Canada’s then-Digital Services Tax. Negotiations resumed days later when Carney’s government agreed to rescind the tax, which would have cost U.S. tech companies like Amazon and Google billions of dollars. Carney said earlier in the day Thursday that he speaks “frequently” with Trump, but couldn’t reach him to bet on the World Series, which kicks off Friday with the Toronto Blue Jays up against the Los Angeles Dodgers. “I think he’s afraid to make a bet,” Carney said, smiling while attending a Jays practice in Toronto. “He hasn’t returned my call yet on the bet. I’m ready. We’re ready to make a bet with the U.S.”White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday that Trump isn’t a big gambler. The Ontario ad has aired in major markets, including D.C., and during the Toronto Blue Jays’ games. “We’re going to repeat that message to every Republican district there is right across the entire country,” Ford said last week before the ad launched. Reagan’s address warned of the long-term economic perils of tariffs on foreign imports sold to Americans as a protectionist policy and explained they were imposed to sort a particular problem — not to begin a trade war. “But over the long run, such trade barriers hurt every American, worker and consumer,” Reagan narrates in the ad. “High tariffs inevitably lead to retaliation by foreign countries and the triggering of fierce trade wars. Then the worst happens. Markets shrink and collapse, businesses and industries shut down and millions of people lose their jobs.” China’s embassy in Washington notably used the same Reagan clip to troll Trump’s global tariffs when the China-U.S. trade war heated up in the spring. “I do believe that everybody’s too smart for that,” Trump said Tuesday after catching the anti-tariffs spot. Carney and Trump will both be in Malaysia and South Korea to attend ASEAN and APEC, with Carney scheduled to leave for Asia Friday morning.

President Donald Trump released a second wave of letters sent to U.S. trading partners in Asia, Africa and Europe on Wednesday, continuing the administration’s roll-out of new tariff rates on imports from nearly every country in the world that are due to go into force Aug. 1. The Philippines is the largest, economically, of the six countries that received a letter Wednesday, sending $14.1 billion in goods to the U.S. last year. But that still pales in comparison to top U.S. trading partners like the European Union and China. The new tariff rates threatened in the letters Trump shared Wednesday are similar to those he announced on what the White House dubbed “Liberation Day” in early April, with small adjustments. The Philippines’ tariff rate, for instance, increased from 17 percent to 20 percent, while Moldova’s decreased from 31 percent to 25 percent and Iraq’s from 39 percent to 30 percent. The other recipients of the letters Trump shared Wednesday include Brunei, Algeria and Libya. In a Cabinet meeting Tuesday, Trump told the reporters his tariff-setting letters were in lieu of negotiating deals with many countries. “I just want you to know a letter means a deal. We can’t meet with 200 countries. … You have to do it in a more general way. “ The release of the latest batch of letters came after Trump signed an executive order Monday officially extending the deadline — again — for his “reciprocal” tariffs on nearly 60 trading partners, with rates ranging between 10 and 50 percent. Those duties briefly went into effect April 9 before the president suspended them until July 9. Monday’s order pushed that date to Aug. 1. Trump said Monday that the new deadline is “firm, but not 100 percent firm.” But the following day he vowed in a post on Truth Social that the Aug. 1 deadline is final. “TARIFFS WILL START BEING PAID ON AUGUST 1, 2025. There has been no change to this date, and there will be no change,” Trump wrote. “No extensions will be granted.” The latest update comes after Trump unveiled letters to 14 foreign governments Monday — 10 of them from Asia, triggering frustration and disbelief among recipients in the region. The Philippines, which received a letter on Wednesday, is another Southeast Asian country that is central to U.S. efforts to expand its economic influence and counter China. The 20 percent rate Trump is threatening to impose on exports from the Philippines is the same level Vietnam received as the result of a framework deal it struck with the Trump administration. Hanoi, which exported $136 billion worth of goods to the United States last year, initially faced a potential tariff of 46 percent, per Trump’s April announcement. The United States imported $7.5 billion worth of goods from Iraq last year; $2.4 billion from Algeria; $1.5 billion from Libya; $238 million from Brunei; and $136 million from Moldova.

BRUSSELS — The European Union’s rules on content moderation, digital competition and artificial intelligence are not up for negotiation with the U.S., the European Commission’s tech chief Henna Virkkunen says. Virkkunen drew a line in the sand in an interview with POLITICO just ahead of a new round of talks between EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on Thursday. The two sides were reported to be inching closer to a deal that includes how U.S. tech companies are treated under the EU’s Digital Markets Act. “The [Digital Services Act], the [Digital Markets Act] and the AI Act of course, these are very important rules for us to make sure that we have trustworthy technologies,” Virkkunen said. “So, this is not part of trade negotiations from our side.” The rules are not up for negotiation because they are “based on our European values,” Virkkunen underlined. The Trump administration and U.S. tech executives have pushed back strongly against the EU’s tech rules in recent months, arguing that the Digital Services Act would allow Americans to be censored, and that the Digital Markets Act unfairly targets U.S. companies. Washington has also called for the EU’s AI Act to be paused, a demand that is now gaining traction among European government officials and several EU tech executives. Virkkunen also rebuffed the framing of EU tech fines as “tariffs,” saying the Commission is not “looking for fines” and that the penalties are meant to force companies to comply. The EU’s tech chief also indicated that the Commission is proceeding full steam ahead with its ongoing probes under the bloc’s Digital Services Act, and promised that several of them will reach fruition soon. “There are so many investigations in the pipeline that we are also able to come to conclusions with many of them in the coming weeks and months,” she said. The most anticipated probe concerns Elon Musk’s X. The platform was found last summer to be in preliminary breach of the EU’s content moderation rules regarding dark patterns, advertising transparency and data access for researchers. Virkkunen declined to comment on whether it would now be easier for the Commission to wrap up the probe and issue a fine against X and Musk, given that the tech billionaire has fallen out of favor with U.S. President Donald Trump. Trump didn’t rule out deporting Musk on Tuesday. “When we are investigating the platforms, it’s based [on] evidence and based [on] our Digital Services Act, and not [on] who’s the owner,” Virkkunen said.

LONDON — In a world blighted by tariffs and increasing protectionism, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is starting to realize that teamwork really is the only way to make his free trade dream a reality. “I do think that it’s [a] difficult environment, but there are significant opportunities if we’re agile about it, if we understand the world we’re living in, and get ahead of the curve,” Starmer told businesses in Westminster on Thursday as he set out the U.K.’s first Trade Strategy since Brexit. While underscoring the importance of trade deals with the likes of India and the U.S., Starmer hinted at a more multilateral approach to trade policy. “I think we should also talk to like-minded countries, because they recognize that the world is changing,” he said. “I’ve been talking to the leaders in Japan, in Singapore, in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, about how we, the U.K., can trade in an easier and better way with them and whether we as a group of countries can trade with other countries in an easier and better way.” The countries mentioned are all members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), an Asia-Pacific trading bloc which the U.K. joined in December. ASIA-PACIFIC BLOC ‘MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER’ Starmer’s words were borne out in the government’s new trade strategy, where the U.K. committed to working alongside partners and allies to negotiate and agree an “ambitious agenda for future plurilateral agreements.” It describes the role of groupings such as CPTPP as “more important than ever in the current global context.” “We will use CPTPP as a platform to support the wider multilateral and plurilateral system, and to encourage deeper trading relationships between countries and groupings committed to liberal rules-based trade,” the strategy said. At a recent meeting in Korea, CPTPP members committed to work with the EU and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations — a regional grouping of 10 states in Southeast Asia — to liberalize global trade in light of “significant challenges” facing the international trading environment.   This could include discussions on areas such as tariffs, digital trade, rules of origin, supply chains, customs administration and innovation, the Trade Strategy said, adding that these dialogues could “create a platform for other trade-focused economies to participate, so broadening our network of collaborative partnerships.” In another sign of the U.K.’s commitment to a multilateral trading system, the U.K. announced it would join the World Trade Organization’s Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement (MPIA), an alternative system for resolving WTO disputes. The U.K. had previously dragged its heels on signing up to the mechanism. “Joining MPIA sends a clear signal that the U.K. is committed to the principles of free and fair trade and that we will champion progress wherever and whenever necessary,” the strategy said.

President Donald Trump’s top trade officials will hold face-to-face trade talks this weekend with a Chinese economic official for the first time since the U.S. imposed punishing tariffs on China and set off a global trade war. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will meet in Geneva on Saturday and Sunday with Vice Premier He Lifeng, a member of the Chinese Communist Party’s ruling Politburo and China’s top economic official. The weeks of stalemate over whether the U.S. or China would make the first move toward easing trade tensions spilled over into how the U.S. and Chinese explained the motivation for the meeting. In a face-saving gesture, both sides attempted to portray the high-level meeting as coincidence of the top officials being in Geneva at the same time. “I was going to be in Switzerland to negotiate with the Swiss,” Bessent said in an interview on Fox News. “Turns out the Chinese team is traveling through Europe, and they will be in Switzerland also. So we will meet on Saturday and Sunday.” For its part, China’s press release said He would be in Geneva at the invitation of the Swiss government. The setting presents a neutral location for the countries to try to ratchet down trade tensions. Geneva is also the home of the World Trade Organization, making it the symbolic center of the increasingly stressed rules-based global trading system. Bessent sought to downplay expectations that the two sides would start talks on a comprehensive trade deal at this weekend’s meeting, something that trade experts expect would involve a lengthy negotiation. However, they could discuss how to de-escalate from the 145 percent tariffs that Trump has imposed on all Chinese goods and Beijing’s 125 percent retaliatory tariffs on American goods, he said. “This isn’t sustainable, as I said before, especially on the Chinese side,” Bessent said. The current tariffs are “the equivalent of an embargo. We don’t want to decouple. What we want is fair trade.” Bessent was evasive when Fox host Laura Ingraham asked which side made the first call to arrange the meeting. “There are lots of calls… There isn’t a first call. There are a lot of contact points over time,” he said. He also declined to say whether Trump would offer to lower his tariff to 50 percent as a sign of good faith. But “everything’s on the table” and Trump himself will decide what to do, Bessent added. The Chinese press release did not specifically say that He would meet with Greer as well as Bessent, but the timing of the trip suggested he would. USTR has historically been the lead for U.S. trade negotiations, but the Trump administration has broken that mold. “At President Trump’s direction, I am negotiating with countries to rebalance our trade relations to achieve reciprocity, open new markets and protect America’s economic and national security,” Greer said in a statement. “I look forward to having productive meetings with some of my counterparts, as well as visiting with my team in Geneva who all work diligently to advance U.S. interests on a range of multilateral issues.” The meeting comes as both the Trump administration and Chinese officials have indicated that there may be room for some negotiations. “Our doors are open if the U.S. wants to talk,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said Tuesday. But he made clear that the Trump administration’s narrative of compelling trading partners to the negotiation table won’t work with Beijing. “If a negotiated solution is truly what the U.S. wants, it should stop threatening and exerting pressure,” Lin added. The weekend meeting could serve as an opening salvo in talks that would lower what has effectively become a trade embargo between the two countries. Already, businesses are warning of higher prices as imports to the West Coast have plunged to levels not seen since the early days of the Covid pandemic. Phelim Kine and Ari Hawkins contributed to this report.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Monday at the White House that Israel will erase its trade deficit with the United States, but it was not enough to immediately earn a reprieve from the sweeping tariffs President Donald Trump announced last week. Seated next to Trump in the Oval Office, Netanyahu said his government intends to eliminate the deficit “very quickly. We think it’s the right thing to do. And we’re also going to eliminate trade barriers.” Trump replied, “Thank you, that’s very nice.” But he gave no indication that the U.S. is willing to back off the increased duties, even on close allies like Israel. In fact, when Trump was asked if he would lower the new 17 percent tariff rate on Israel, due to kick in Wednesday morning, Trump said “maybe not,” adding that the U.S. already gives Israel billions of dollars in aid for defense and other purposes. Trump also said the White House was “not looking at” pausing the new tariffs, more broadly, to allow for negotiations. Netanyahu is the first foreign leader to meet with Trump since he announced the “reciprocal tariffs” last week. Netanyahu also met with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Sunday evening. Israel is one of 60-odd trading partners that face a stepped-up duty on imports under the reciprocal tariff system, which the Trump administration determined based on other countries’ trade surpluses with the U.S. Administration officials have said 50 countries have reached out to negotiate on the new tariffs since they were announced. Trump spoke with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba earlier Monday. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent later posted on X that the president had asked Bessent and Greer to launch trade negotiations with Japan, which is facing a 24 percent tariff under the new system. Trump said in the Oval Office that he was focused on opening up the Japanese market to American automobiles and agriculture. Netanyahu said he recognizes the position of the U.S. in combating unfair trade from other countries. “I’m a free-trade champion and free trade has to be fair trade — and I think that’s basically the position that you have put forward,” he said to Trump. The U.S. is Israel’s single largest trading partner, and the country is expected to lose about $2.3 billion from the U.S. tariffs, according to the Manufacturers Association of Israel, with the biggest hit coming to Israel’s technology sector. Israel has shared a free-trade agreement with the United States since 1985. “The consequences of tariffs on Israel are huge,” said Dalia Ziada, a senior fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs.

PARIS — New Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney began his first trip overseas since taking office by saying his country needed to work with “reliable allies,” a clear shot at U.S. President Donald Trump. “It’s more important than ever that Canada reinforces its ties with our reliable allies like France,” Carney said while appearing alongside French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris at the Elysée Palace. “We know that economic collaboration, not confrontation, is the way to build strong economies.” Carney appeared to emphasize the word “reliable,” looking directly at Macron as he said the word in French. The former Canadian and English central banker‘s grasp of French, an official language in Canada, has been a point of debate in domestic political circles. While he speaks French well, he is not natively bilingual. Carney, who was sworn in as prime minister on Friday, is traveling to France and the United Kingdom on Monday to shore up transatlantic support for Ottawa as it faces tariffs and annexation threats from Washington. Trump has slapped duties on several imports coming from U.S. trading partners like the European Union and Canada, most notably on steel and aluminum. Canada has hit back with retaliatory measures, while the European Commission has said it is ready to do so. “I want to ensure that France and all of Europe work enthusiastically with Canada — the most European of non-European countries,” Carney said in what appeared to be a nod to suggestions that Canada should join the EU. A recent survey from Canadian pollster Abacus data found that 44 percent of Canadian respondents believe their country should join the EU, while only 34 percent oppose the idea — although EU membership is reserved to European countries. Macron stressed that he and Carney shared a belief that “fair trade that respects international rules is good for everyone’s prosperity. Certainly more effective than inflation-creating tariffs that damage production chains and the integration of our economies.” Both Carney and Macron underlined the shared economic opportunities for their countries in fields including AI and quantum technology. Earlier in the day, Carney visited the reconstructed Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris and met with the Canadian ambassador and former Liberal leader Stéphane Dion. Later on Monday, he will travel to the U.K. to meet with Prime Minister Keir Starmer and King Charles III. It is unclear whether Carney will have more opportunities for trips abroad as prime minister, as he is expected to call for new elections as early as this month.

BRUSSELS — The European Commission fired a warning shot against the United States on Friday, vowing to react “immediately” if President Donald Trump implements tariffs that match those of America’s trade partners. After reinstating this week duties on steel and aluminum, Trump signed a memo Thursday that sets out a process for imposing so-called “reciprocal” tariffs. These would effectively raise tariffs on a country’s exports to the U.S., based on the level of tariffs or non-tariff barriers that country imposes on U.S. goods. “The EU will react firmly and immediately against unjustified barriers to free and fair trade, including when tariffs are used to challenge legal and non-discriminatory policies,” the European Commission said in a statement. Trump’s team has taken particular exception to value-added taxes levied on sales of all goods by European countries — complaining that these add around 20 percent to the 10 percent duty the EU charges on auto imports. The U.S. has 2.5 percent tariffs and no federal sales tax. The statement comes after a week of tit-for-tat rhetoric between Washington and Brussels, and warnings from Brussels that Trump’s moves will not go unanswered. Since the trade skirmishes of Trump’s first term, the EU has expanded its trade defense arsenal in a way that would enable it to strike back against measures it views as unlawful. Brussels also recalled its attachment to rules-based trade, accusing Washington of undermining its existing commitments. The U.S. has effectively hamstrung the World Trade Organization, having blocked the appointment of judges to its highest appeals court since Trump’ s first term. “For decades, the EU has worked with trading partners like the U.S. to reduce tariffs and other trade barriers worldwide, reinforcing this openness through binding commitments in the rules-based trading system — commitments that the US is now undermining,” the Commission said.

One of the European Union’s most senior officials embarked on a previously undisclosed trip to meet U.S. President Donald Trump’s inner circle in recent weeks, in a last-ditch effort to de-escalate tension and avoid a full-blown trade war, three senior EU diplomats told POLITICO. Bjoern Seibert, who serves as the head of cabinet to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, held talks with Trump’s inner circle in Washington, said the diplomats, who were granted anonymity to reveal details of the sensitive visit. After the U.S. imposed across-the-board tariffs on steel and aluminum earlier this month, Brussels started working on presenting a package of trade options to the Trump administration, which is likely to include an offer to purchase more American natural gas. It’s unclear if the talks took place before Trump’s announcement. Seibert did not immediately respond to a request for comment from POLITICO, and the Commission has not confirmed details of the visit. Outreach from Seibert came amid preparations for U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance to sit down with von der Leyen on Tuesday this week in Paris. According to a Commission readout from the closed-door meeting between Vance and von der Leyen, she “reaffirmed the EU’s commitment to a fair trade relationship, while both parties expressed their intention to prioritize economic areas of mutual interest, including energy.” Following the announcement of the tariffs, the Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU called a virtual meeting of the bloc’s 27 trade ministers to agree a strategy which is expected to include sweeping “reciprocal” tariffs that could disrupt the $1.3 trillion transatlantic trade relationship. The EU’s diplomatic contacts with the Trump administration have been hindered by uncertainty over who has a genuine mandate to negotiate on behalf of the Oval Office, and the slow pace of appointments to key teams in Washington responsible for maintaining relations with Europe. Earlier this week, Brussels’ Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič spoke with Trump’s pick for Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, designated U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council.

The European Union’s new anti-deforestation rules will be delayed by one year but no major changes will be made to the content of the legislation, European decision makers agreed on Tuesday evening. The result is a blow to the center-right European People’s Party, which had attempted to weaken the law — a key pillar of the Green Deal — as part of its push to lighten the regulatory burden on business. The deal struck between European Parliament, the Council of the EU, and the European Commission on Tuesday means the Commission’s original proposal to delay the law  by one year stands. It will now come into force on Dec. 30, 2025. But amendments proposed by the EPP and passed by the European Parliament have been abandoned, after they met with strong resistance from the Commission and EU member countries. These amendments include a proposal to create a new “no risk” category that would reduce due diligence requirements for commodities sourced from areas at zero or negligible risk of deforestation. The Council of the EU had raised concerns about the compatibility of such a measure with World Trade Organization rules, and which POLITICO reported the EPP had finally dropped late last week. That backtrack was not the first in the saga. Back in November, the EPP abandoned a number of more radical proposed reforms to the law, ahead of the November vote in Parliament. These included a two-year delay, and a suite of carve-outs that critics argued would have substantially weakened the law’s intended purpose of ensuring products sold within the EU do not contribute to global deforestation. Still, in a concession to the EPP, the Commission on Tuesday agreed to look into how to simplify the regulation and reduce regulatory burden when the law is reviewed in 2028. “The Commission will provide further clarifications and explore additional simplifications, and streamline reporting and document obligations, to keep them to a necessary minimum,” the agreed statement read. The text will now go through a final vote in the Parliament’s environment committee and in plenary before it’s published in the EU Official Journal, and becomes law.