So like… imagine being the President of the United States and throwing a full-on meltdown because of a 60-second Ontario TV ad. Yeah, that’s basically what Donald Trump did.
The ad — produced by Doug Ford’s government — dared to show old footage of Ronald Reagan saying tariffs are bad. That’s it. That’s the crime. But it aired during the World Series, and Trump basically lost it faster than a spray tan in the rain.
By Monday morning, he’d stormed out of trade talks with Prime Minister Mark Carney, slapped Canada with a new 10% tariff, and told reporters, “I’m not meeting with him for a long time.” Like, okay Regina George, calm down.
Apparently, the whole Canada–U.S. bromance hit the skids after Trump saw the ad and decided it “misrepresented” Reagan. (Spoiler: it didn’t — unless you count using Reagan’s own words as misrepresentation.)
At the ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur, Carney was basically the definition of chill. “That’s a question for him,” he said when reporters asked why Trump was suddenly ghosting him. Translation: this is above my pay grade of patience.
Meanwhile, Trump jetted off to Japan to stew about tariffs and maybe eat some McDonald’s abroad, who knows.
Doug Ford, though? Oh he was living his best political drama life. The Ontario Premier bragged that the ad got “over one billion views” (because, duh, World Series), called it “the most successful ad in the history of North America,” and said he only pulled it after the weekend — you know, just to let it marinate.
He also revealed that Carney saw the ad before it aired. So technically, the PM was like “sure, looks fine,” before the whole trade implosion happened. Talk about awkward.
And then there’s the political peanut gallery:
- Pierre P., predictably, couldn’t resist. He snarked that Carney’s “bungled diplomacy” was “costing Canadian workers” and called the tariffs “self-inflicted.”
- Wab Kinew, Manitoba’s Premier, was like, “I think it’s good that President Trump has to squirm.” Iconic.
- Danielle Smith was all “let’s be diplomatic,” because Alberta’s oil keeps her safe from tariff drama.
- And John Fraser, the Ontario Liberal MPP, said Ford’s ad was basically a taxpayer-funded ego trip.
Honestly, it’s like watching every province star in their own reality show: The Real Premiers of Canada: Trade Edition.
Meanwhile, Carney’s out here signing letters of intent in Malaysia to deepen energy ties and diversify trade like a responsible adult. He even dropped that Canada plans to produce 50 million tonnes of LNG a year by the end of the decade. So, clearly, he’s not letting Trump’s tantrum stop him from building his LinkedIn legacy.
Trump, on the other hand, still hasn’t figured out when his extra tariffs will “kick in.” When pressed by reporters, he literally said, “I don’t know when it’s going to kick in. We’ll see.” Like… sir, that’s not how tariffs work.
So where are we now? Canada’s prepping its Nov. 4 budget, Ford’s pretending the ad was “worth it,” and Trump’s probably rage-tweeting about how Reagan’s ghost betrayed him.
In the end, this whole “Tariff Tantrum” proves one thing: you can take the man out of reality TV, but you can’t take the reality TV out of the man.
XOXO,
Valley Girl News
Where The Drama Meets The Deal
