Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent tried his best to fend off a question about why President Donald Trump increased tariffs on Canada because of a TV ad he despised.
Speaking with Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press” Sunday, the NBC host pressed Bessent for an answer on why the president “put another 10% tariff on Canada in response” to an ad that Ontario’s government ran that featured former President Ronald Reagan.
Trump’s vocal displeasure over the ad prompted him to end trade negotiations between the U.S. and Canada, threatening once again to turn the key economic relationship between the United States and its second-biggest trading partner topsy-turvy.
Without answering Welker’s question directly, Bessent launched into arguing that the ad was a “kind of propaganda against U.S. citizens.” He also accused the ad of utilizing psychological operations, a military and government tactic that uses the media to influence people’s emotions to help shape the public’s perceptions.
“It’s psy-ops. Why would the government of Ontario — I’m told that they have spent or were planning to spend up to $75 million on these ads to come across the U.S. border … what was the purpose of that other than to sway public opinion?” Bessent said of the ad. “And it’s some kind of propaganda that the premier of Ontario unilaterally launched.”
Welker then questioned the government official over whether the 10% tariffs will “apply to all Canadian goods.”
“Kristen, I’ve been traveling since this unfortunate event happened,” Bessent replied. “I know that the ad’s been taken down. So, you know, we’ll have to see. But I just think it was terrible, terrible judgment by this premier, you know, who has a bit of a reputation for being a hothead.”
Welker tried again grilling Bessent about whether Trump has “made a determination” on whether the 10% tariffs will apply to all Canadian goods, prompting the GOP leader to skirt around the question yet again.
“Well, I’m sure he knows, and I’m sure [U.S. trade] Ambassador [Jamieson] Greer knows. But, again, you know, we’re here out in Asia and we’re doing these big trade deals out in Asia,” he responded.
A furious Trump heavily condemned the 38-year-old ad that quoted Reagan criticizing Trump’s favorite economic tool — tariffs — in a radio address on April 25, 1987.
Calling the ad “fraudulent” and a “hostile act” in a scathing Truth Post late Saturday night, Trump declared that due to the country’s “serious misrepresentation of the facts,” he would be slapping a 10% extra tariff on Canada in retaliation over the Reagan trade ad.
The president also claimed in the post that Reagan “LOVED Tariffs for purposes of National Security and the Economy.”
In a separate Truth Social post, Trump also criticized the Ontario provincial government’s decision to keep airing the ad during U.S. broadcasts of the World Series.
“They could have pulled it tonight,” Trump said. “Well, that’s dirty play — but I can play dirtier than they can, you know.”
Watch Bessent’s appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” below.