A senior government official says Prime Minister Mark Carney was not given advance notice when U.S. President Donald Trump announced an additional 10 per cent tariff on Canada. The prime minister is attending the opening ceremony of the ASEAN conference in Malaysia. The senior official travelling with Carney also said that the prime minister has not spoken to Trump since he halted the trade negotiations. The move came after the Ontario government ran an anti-tariff ad featuring former U.S. president Ronald Reagan in U.S. markets during the World Series. Trump said on Truth Social the ad was “to be taken down, IMMEDIATELY,” and called it a “FRAUD,” adding the tariff would be “over and above what they are paying now.” The Ontario government launched the $75-million campaign earlier this month, scheduled to run until the end of January. The province said it would remove the ad on Monday after Trump called off trade talks. Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said in a social media post Saturday that the federal government remains focused on maintaining dialogue with Washington. “As the Prime Minister said yesterday, we stand ready to build on the progress made in constructive discussions with American counterparts over the course of recent weeks,” LeBlanc said on X. “We will remain focused on achieving results that benefit workers and families in both the United States and Canada, and that progress is best achieved through direct engagement with the U.S. administration — which is the responsibility of the federal government.
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