Reagan Didn’t “Love Tariffs,” No Matter What Trump Says
President Trump slapped a ten-percent tariff on Canada — because of a commercial
The province of Ontario ran an ad featuring Ronald Reagan. Just Reagan’s actual voice from an April 1987 radio address warning against tariffs.
Trump saw the ad, called it “fake,” then said Reagan “loved tariffs.” At first, he claimed the ad was AI — a deepfake. It wasn’t. And Reagan did not love tariffs. He was a free trader through and through.
The Ad That Broke a Trade Deal
The spot uses real Reagan audio saying tariffs lead to retaliation and lost jobs. Classic Reagan — free-market optimism wrapped in homespun logic.
The Reagan Presidential Foundation — now run by Trump allies — put out a statement claiming the ad took his words “out of context.” Technically true only in the editing sense. The words are accurate, and so’s the meaning. Reagan was warning that protectionism backfires.
Trump, meanwhile, canceled trade talks with Canada and tacked on a ten-percent tariff, calling it payback.
Reagan’s Real Record
Reagan was a free trader. He believed in lowering barriers, not building them. His 1987 address said:
“High tariffs inevitably lead to retaliation. Markets shrink and collapse. Millions of people lose their jobs.”
That’s not exactly “loving tariffs.”
Here’s the full address for context.
Still, history has nuance — just a dab of it here. Reagan did use tariffs, rarely.
In 1983, he slapped a temporary tariff on Japanese motorcycles to give Harley-Davidson a breather. He did it again in 1987 on Japanese semiconductors after Japan violated a trade deal. Both cases were limited, targeted, and short-lived.
Reagan treated tariffs like antibiotics — something you use only when absolutely necessary, because overusing them kills the patient.
Fair Trade
Reagan’s philosophy was simple: “Free trade, yes — but fair trade too.” He saw tariffs as exceptions, not weapons. He wanted markets to open, not close.
Trump’s version of Reagan is fantasy. The Gipper didn’t “love tariffs.” He tolerated them, reluctantly, when forced to.
So a Canadian ad quoting Reagan got under Trump’s skin enough to trigger a ten-percent tariff. Trump punished one of America’s closest allies — because Ronald Reagan hurt his feelings from beyond the grave.