Associates of former prime minister Brian Mulroney say Ronald Reagan's embrace of free trade and rejection of tariffs grew out of the late U.S. president's relationship with his Canadian counterpart.
David McLaughlin and Geoff Norquay, who worked as senior policy advisers for Mulroney, also say Reagan's views on trade are not being misconstrued by the ads running in American markets that triggered U.S. President Donald Trump.
"When Mr. Mulroney decided to pursue free trade with the U.S., he recognized that job one was to get President Reagan on side," Norquay told The Canadian Press on Friday.
Trump abruptly called off trade talks with Canada Thursday over ads paid for by the Ontario government running on U.S. TV stations that feature archival footage of Reagan warning about the economically devastating effects of tariffs.
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Norquay and McLaughlin said Mulroney's relationship with Reagan helped inform the late president's philosophy on trade, which led to the ratification of the first Canada-U.S. free trade deal in 1988.
In separate interviews with The Canadian Press, both recounted Mulroney's belief that the first job of a Canadian prime minister is to preserve national unity, but the second is to manage the relationship with the United States.
"And so from the beginning of his prime ministership, Mr. Mulroney acted in many ways to ensure that the business relationship between him and Mr. Reagan became a close personal friendship," Norquay said.
That effort to build the personal relationship culminated in the so-called "Shamrock Summit" of 1985, widely seen as a turning point in the bilateral relationship after the more chilly tone of the Pierre Trudeau years.
The summit — colloquially named to celebrate the two leaders' Irish heritage — famously ended with Mulroney and Reagan singing "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" on a stage in Quebec City.
The Ontario-sponsored ads feature excerpts from a radio address Reagan delivered in 1987.
In one excerpt in the ad, referring to a contemporary trade dispute with Japan, Reagan says tariffs "hurt every American worker and consumer."
"High tariffs inevitably lead to retaliation by foreign countries and the triggering of fierce trade wars," he says. "Then the worst happens. Markets shrink and collapse. Businesses and industry shut down, and millions of people lose their jobs."
While the ad offended Trump and led the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation to accuse Ontario of misrepresenting the late president's address, McLaughlin said Reagan's words speak for themselves.
"I don't see the Ontario ad mischaracterizing Reagan on free trade," said McLaughlin, who also served as Mulroney's chief of staff.
"I think the Reagan Foundation may be mischaracterizing a bit of Reagan's view on that, but that's for them to explain.
"I mean, Ronald Reagan was the president who negotiated and signed free trade with Canada. He was a free trader, at least when it came to Canada, and that's what matters."
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Friday afternoon his government will pull the ads after the weekend. They're still set to run during the first two games of the World Series.
McLaughlin said, notwithstanding the economic benefits of liberalized trade, Mulroney had to convince Reagan the project was important enough to warrant his time and effort.
"You have Canada, the small partner, trying to convince the big partner of the United States of the need to do something, and you've got to get their attention or you've got to have a relationship — ideally both," he said.
"And so, (Mulroney) used the relationship to convince the U.S. president to devote the most important thing that he had, which is his political capital and his attention."
McLaughlin said Prime Minister Mark Carney has attempted to do something similar with the Oval Office's current tenant. The tone of Trump's meetings with Carney in the White House has been cordial — even chummy.
Both McLaughlin and Norquay said if Mulroney were in Carney's shoes, he would be leaning on his relationship-building skills to find a solution.
"I think it would be, 'Do everything you can to get close to President Trump. Avoid situations which inflame him,'" Norquay said, noting Mulroney was called in to advise then-prime minister Justin Trudeau during Trump's first term.
"But I think in the final analysis he would have said that at a certain point, Canada cannot sit idly by and with muted voice and watch President Trump disassemble the Canadian economy piece by piece.
"I think that would be his bottom line."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2025.
