On February 1 U.S. president Donald Trump has set the deadline for Canada to agree to his terms or he will implement a 25 per cent tariff on Canada. In efforts to persuade the United States from following through with the tariff threats, Ontario launched an ad in December. The ad has been running in the states for almost two months now.
When London locals were shown the ad, their reactions were all very similar.
“Americans come to Ontario and a lot of us, go to America to shop, so we both need each other to function,” says Londoner Alyssa Paquet.
“I just don’t really think he realizes how big of a thing it’s going to cause, so I just feel like he’s just kind of set on it,” says another Londoner Jaime Verberne.
“I hope that the Americans can see the major part of that, which is that we need to work together,” says Creegan O’Connor, a London local.
The advertisement focusses on the economic relationship between Ontario and the United States. The ad promotes their trading partnership by also stating that the province is the States’ third largest trade partner. It is unknown if the ad is targeted at the American public to protest the tariff attempts of Trump. Or if the ad is targeted at the American Government to try and change their mind.
Londoner O’Conner sums up his main worry about the tariff threats from Trump.
“That isolation part that America is trying to do, it’s not great and I don’t think tariffs is the way to go and a lot of them don’t understand how tariffs really work, which is the worst part, so I just think it’s all around just a bad idea of what they’re saying,” adds O’Conner.
