{"id":253125,"date":"2025-10-31T21:21:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T21:21:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/253125\/"},"modified":"2025-10-31T21:21:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T21:21:14","slug":"in-detroit-where-sympathy-for-canada-runs-high-residents-are-divided-on-reagan-anti-tariff-ad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/253125\/","title":{"rendered":"In Detroit, where sympathy for Canada runs high, residents are divided on Reagan anti-tariff ad"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The Detroit skyline in 2023. Detroit and Windsor, Ont., share a river, a border and a reliance on the auto industry.Fred Lum\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

Ontario\u2019s Ronald Reagan ad campaign<\/a> enraged a mercurial American President and torpedoed trade negotiations between Canada and the U.S.<\/p>\n

But just across the river from Windsor, Ont., in Detroit, not everyone has noticed the 60-second TV ad that has chilled diplomatic relations<\/a> with Canadian neighbours they\u2019ve always considered family.<\/p>\n

Pausing his bike ride to take a selfie with Caesars Windsor Hotel & Casino in the background, Mike Johnson said he hasn\u2019t seen the clip.<\/p>\n

\u201cI watch Channel 4, Channel 7, subscribe to the Detroit Free Press, Detroit News, Wall Street Journal and I still have not seen these ads,\u201d he said. \u201cRead some stories about them. But haven\u2019t seen them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Explainer: What you need to know about Ontario\u2019s anti-tariff ad<\/a><\/p>\n

Opinion: Take it from an ad man: Ford\u2019s anti-tariff Reagan ad was too good for such bad times<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr. Johnson and other Detroiters consider Windsor less a foreign country and more a neighbourhood of their own city, sometimes referred to as South Detroit. The cities share a river, a border and a reliance on an auto industry that moved product freely until U.S. President Donald Trump introduced tariffs this year. <\/p>\n

The Reagan ad campaign, originally budgeted at $75-million, ran throughout the United States before it was pulled off the air earlier this week<\/a>. It features audio of a radio address that Mr. Reagan gave in 1987 in which he explains why he opposes most tariffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cHigh tariffs inevitably lead to retaliation by foreign countries and the triggering of fierce trade wars,\u201d he said. \u201cThen the worst happens. Markets shrink and collapse. Businesses and industry shut down, and millions of people lose their jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation complained that the ad misrepresented the former president\u2019s comments. Mr. Trump went further, declaring the ads \u201cFAKE\u201d on Truth Social and falsely asserting the spot was generated by AI. <\/p>\n

Kathy Kay from Detroit says the President is the one misrepresenting the situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe didn\u2019t listen to the whole thing,\u201d she said, walking at a brisk pace along the Detroit River. \u201cRonald Reagan was saying we didn\u2019t need tariffs. That man in office, I won\u2019t say his name, is the one misrepresenting.\u201d <\/p>\n

Ms. Kay admitted she hasn\u2019t seen the ad herself, just coverage of the ad on MSNBC. <\/p>\n

\u201cWho pays for tariffs? We do, the consumer,\u201d she said. \u201cPrices are up.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, General Motors announced<\/a> around 3,300 layoffs in the U.S., primarily among factories geared to electric vehicle production. Inside the company\u2019s world headquarters in Detroit, the eerily vacant Renaissance Center, a dozen or so people were keeping warm among empty storefronts and closed fast-food outlets. <\/p>\n

One man, William Smith, said he\u2019s heard about \u201cthis beef with Canada.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what good it\u2019s doing anybody,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Carney saw Reagan anti-tariff ad before it aired, Ford says<\/a><\/p>\n

In Troy, a northern suburb of Detroit, the sentiment was different. Outside the Oakland Mall, several people said they had seen the entire ad on conservative networks. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really dumb to run that ad at this time,\u201d said Tony Dimambro. \u201cAnd it was misleading. Reagan was in favour of some tariffs.\u201d <\/p>\n

Mr. Dimambro said half his family lives on the other side of the border. He feels for any economic pain Canadians are feeling, but supports the tariffs as a way of bringing jobs back to the U.S. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it comes to Trump, I love his policies but I hate his personality and his mouth,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

The ad ran on major U.S. networks, including during major sporting events. <\/p>\n

Sandra Jones recalled seeing the ad several times but couldn\u2019t remember whether it was during a sports or news broadcast. \u201cI\u2019m not your typical grandma,\u201d she says, a Detroit Lions pin shining on her shirt. \u201cI watch Fox and sports.\u201d <\/p>\n

She faulted Ontario for airing an inflammatory ad during a sensitive stage of trade negotiations. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t right and it really backfired,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s pushed Trump and your Prime Minister apart.\u201d <\/p>\n

While Mr. Trump seems to have soured on Canada, Ms. Jones has not. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really pulling for those Blue Jays,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: The Detroit skyline in 2023. Detroit and Windsor, Ont., share a river, a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":253126,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,44,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-253125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-news","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253125\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}