Reagan's Words on Tariffs

An ad campaign from the government of Ontario featured audio of former President Ronald Reagan denouncing tariffs on foreign goods. The video rearranges what Reagan said in a 1987 radio address, and it ignores some of the context. But it does not alter the former president’s sentiments, contrary to President Donald Trump’s claim that Canada “lied.”

Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced on Oct. 14 that $75 million would be spent to air the ad to “every Republican district there is” across the U.S.

“It’s not a nasty ad; it’s actually just very factual,” Ford said, adding that the TV spot uses the words of Reagan, “the best president the country’s ever seen, in my opinion.”

In a Truth Social post on Oct. 23, Trump denounced the ad as “FAKE” and said that it was intended to “interfere with the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court,” which is set to hear arguments on Nov. 5 in cases from businesses and states that have challenged some of Trump’s tariffs. As a result of the “egregious” ad, Trump said he terminated all trade negotiations with Canada.

In posts and comments to the media the following day, Trump said the ad was “a fraud” and claimed Canada “lied.”

Trump even suggested Reagan’s words had been created by artificial intelligence.

“They cheated on a commercial,” Trump said in remarks to reporters on Oct. 24. “Ronald Reagan loved tariffs and they said he didn’t. And I guess it was AI or something. They cheated badly. Canada got caught cheating on a commercial, can you believe it?”

On Oct. 24, Ford announced via X that the ad would be paused on Oct. 27 — after it had aired during the first two World Series baseball games — “so that trade talks can resume.”

“Our intention was always to initiate a conversation about the kind of economy that Americans want to build and the impact of tariffs on workers and businesses,” Ford stated. “We’ve achieved our goal, having reached U.S. audiences at the highest levels.”

In a Truth Social post the following day, Trump stated, “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.” As we’ve explained before, tariffs on foreign goods are paid by importers in the U.S., not the foreign countries.

What’s in the Ad?

The one-minute ad quotes Reagan as saying the following: “When someone says, ‘Let’s impose tariffs on foreign imports,’ it looks like they’re doing the patriotic thing by protecting American products and jobs. And sometimes for a short while, it works. But only for a short time. But over the long run, such trade barriers hurt every American worker and consumer. 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. Throughout the world, there’s a growing realization that the way to prosperity for all nations is rejecting protectionist legislation and promoting fair and free competition. America’s jobs and growth are at stake.”

On Oct. 23, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute posted a statement on X saying the government of Ontario “created an ad campaign using selective audio and video” of Reagan’s radio address on April 25, 1987.

“The ad misrepresents the Presidential Radio Address,” the group said, adding that the government of Ontario “did not seek nor receive permission to use and edit the remarks” and that the foundation was “reviewing its legal options in this matter.”

The foundation and institute invited readers to watch and listen to the full five-minute video.

Full transcript of Reagan’s radio address

President Ronald Reagan, radio address on free and fair trade, from Camp David, Maryland, April 25, 1987: My fellow Americans, Prime Minister Nakasone of Japan will be visiting me here at the White House next week. It’s an important visit, because while I expect to take up our relations with our good friend Japan, which overall remain excellent, recent disagreements between our two countries on the issue of trade will also be high on our agenda.

As perhaps you’ve heard, last week I placed new duties on some Japanese products in response to Japan’s inability to enforce their trade agreement with us on electronic devices called semiconductors. Now, imposing such tariffs or trade barriers and restrictions of any kind are steps that I am loath to take. And in a moment, I’ll mention the sound economic reasons for this, that over the long run, such trade barriers hurt every American worker and consumer. But the Japanese semiconductors were a special case. We had clear evidence that Japanese companies were engaging in unfair trade practices that violated an agreement between Japan and the United States. We expect our trading partners to live up to their agreements.

As I’ve often said, our commitment to free trade is also a commitment to fair trade. But you know, in imposing these tariffs, we were just trying to deal with a particular problem, not begin a trade war. So next week, I’ll be giving Prime Minister Nakasone this same message. We want to continue to work cooperatively on trade problems and want very much to lift these trade restrictions as soon as evidence permits. We want to do this because we feel both Japan and the United States have an obligation to promote the prosperity and economic development that only free trade can bring.

Now, that message of free trade is one I conveyed to Canada’s leaders a few weeks ago, and it was warmly received there. Indeed, throughout the world, there’s a growing realization that the way to prosperity for all nations is rejecting protectionist legislation and promoting fair and free competition. Now, there are sound historical reasons for this. For those of us who lived through the Great Depression, the memory of the suffering it caused is deep and searing. And today, many economic analysts and historians argue that high tariff legislation passed back in that period, called the Smoot-Hawley Tariff, greatly deepened the depression and prevented economic recovery.

You see at first when someone says, ‘Let’s impose tariffs on foreign imports,’ it looks like they’re doing the patriotic thing by protecting American products and jobs. And sometimes for a short while, it works. But only for a short time. What eventually occurs is first, home-grown industries start relying on government protection in the form of high tariffs. They stop competing and stop making the innovative management and technological changes they need to succeed in world markets. And then, while all this is going on, something even worse occurs. High tariffs inevitably lead to retaliation by foreign countries and the triggering of fierce trade wars.

The result is more and more tariffs, higher and higher trade barriers, and less and less competition. So soon, because of the prices made artificially high by tariffs that subsidize inefficiency and poor management, people stop buying. Then the worst happens: Markets shrink and collapse, businesses and industries shut down, and millions of people lose their jobs.

The memory of all this occurring back in the ’30s made me determined when I came to Washington to spare the American people the protectionist legislation that destroys prosperity. Now, it hasn’t always been easy. There are those in the Congress, just as there were back in the ’30s, who want to go for the quick political advantage, who risk America’s prosperity for the sake of a short-term appeal to some special interest group, who forget that more than 5 million American jobs are directly tied to the foreign export business and additional millions are tied to imports. Well, I’ve never forgotten those jobs, and on trade issues, by and large, we’ve done well. In certain select cases, like the Japanese semiconductors, we’ve taken steps to stop unfair practices against American products, but we’ve still maintained our basic long-term commitment to free trade and economic growth.

So, with my meeting with Prime Minister Nakasone and the Venice Economic Summit coming up, it’s terribly important not to restrict a president’s options in such trade dealings with foreign governments. Unfortunately, some in the Congress are trying to do exactly that. I’ll keep you informed on this dangerous legislation, because it’s just another form of protectionism, and I may need your help to stop it. Remember, America’s jobs and growth are at stake. Until next week, thanks for listening, and God bless you.

As the video of the full remarks shows, the ad rearranged the order of several of Reagan’s comments, though it left sentences largely intact. With the exception of a “but” added at the beginning of one sentence, Reagan uttered the sentences in question, though at different parts of the address. The question, then, is whether the ad’s splicing of Reagan’s comments altered his meaning.

In this video, we show how the ad used different parts of Reagan’s address:

We reached out to the foundation for clarification about how it believes the ad “misrepresents” Reagan’s address, but we did not get a response.

What Did Reagan Say?

There is some missing context from Reagan’s remarks. Reagan’s comments came as he was announcing “new duties on some Japanese products in response to Japan’s inability to enforce their trade agreement with us on electronic devices called semiconductors.” Reagan said that “imposing such tariffs or trade barriers and restrictions of any kind are steps that I am loath to take” but “the Japanese semiconductors were a special case.”

“We had clear evidence that Japanese companies were engaging in unfair trade practices that violated an agreement between Japan and the United States,” Reagan said.

“But you know, in imposing these tariffs, we were just trying to deal with a particular problem, not begin a trade war,” Reagan said, before launching into his thoughts on the benefits of free trade, the remarks that were used in the Canadian ad.

Those kinds of free trade comments were not a one-off. Reagan often spoke about the benefits of trade.

“The record is clear that when America’s total trade has increased, American jobs have also increased, and when our total trade has declined, so have the number of jobs,” Reagan said in one of his final radio addresses as president on Nov. 26, 1988. “Part of the difficulty in accepting the good news about trade is in our words. We too often talk about trade while using the vocabulary of war. In war for one side to win, the other must lose. But commerce is not warfare. Trade is an economic alliance that benefits both countries. There are no losers, only winners, and trade helps strengthen the free world. Yet today, protectionism is being used by some American politicians as a cheap form of nationalism, a fig leaf for those unwilling to maintain America’s military strength and who lack the resolve to stand up to real enemies, countries that would use violence against us or our allies. Our peaceful trading partners are not our enemies. They are our allies. We should beware of the demagogues who are ready to declare a trade war against our friends, weakening our economy, our national security and the entire free world, all while cynically waving the American flag.”

But historians and economists say Reagan’s rhetoric on trade did not always match his actions.

“Like most post-war presidents, Reagan championed free trade while selectively deviating from it,” Daniel Griswold, then of the Cato Institute, wrote in 2004.

“Critics of trade note correctly that Reagan negotiated ‘voluntary’ import quotas for steel and Japanese cars and imposed Section 201 tariffs on imported motorcycles to protect Harley-Davidson. All true,” Griswold wrote. “But those were the exceptions and not the rule. They were tactical retreats designed to defuse rising protectionists pressures in Congress.”

Steve Hanke, a professor of applied economics at Johns Hopkins University who served as a senior economist on Reagan’s Council of Economic Advisers, noted some of the tariffs Reagan placed on Japanese goods and quotas set on imported Japanese cars, and acknowledged in a 2024 ABC News story, “There was a huge gap between rhetoric and reality.”

In a 1985 interview, a Washington Post reporter said that for a long time Reagan had been “theoretically strongly committed to the idea of free trade,” but asked Reagan if he would actively oppose “the protectionist legislation that now appears to be building in the Congress.”

Reagan said he would, citing the negative effect of tariffs that he said extended and worsened the Great Depression. But Reagan said he also would not tolerate unfair trade practices from U.S. trading partners.

“What we’re trying to cure is unfair competition, to see that the markets are free to each other, both ways; that we’re not competing with subsidized products, government subsidized and so forth. And all of these things we’re doing our best to change,” Reagan said.

Trump has argued repeatedly that his tariffs are in response to unfair treatment by other countries on trade for decades.

However, Hanke told ABC News that the contrast between Reagan’s and Trump’s positions on tariffs is significant. Trump has repeatedly claimed tariffs would make the U.S. “a very rich country,” and he has touted tariffs as one of his favorite words. “I made it my fourth favorite word as you know, because love, religion, wife, family, et cetera,” Trump said on Sept. 18.

“Trump is not talking about free trade,” Hanke said. “Trump’s rhetoric is completely different.”

Asked this week about Trump’s comments that Reagan loved tariffs, Hanke told Canada’s CTV News, Trump “doesn’t really know what he’s talking about.”

On Oct. 24, Hanke posted a clip of Reagan’s radio address on X and commented, “Watch my old boss, Pres. Reagan, DESTROY TARIFFS with clarity and conviction. Trump is no Reagan.”

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