In the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in 2016, the former secretary of state delivered a memorable line about her erratic rival: “A man who can be provoked by a tweet should not have his fingers anywhere near the nuclear codes.”

Nine years later, the Republican president is still being triggered — not just by random things he sees on social media, but also by television ads that hurt his feelings. The Associated Press reported:

President Donald Trump announced he’s ending ‘all trade negotiations’ with Canada because of a television ad opposing U.S. tariffs that he said misstated the facts and was aimed at influencing U.S. court decisions. … The ad was paid for by the Ontario provincial government, not the Canadian federal government. The Ontario government said it planned to pay $54 million (about $75 million Canadian) for the ads to air across multiple American television stations using audio and video of then-President Reagan speaking about tariffs in 1987.

In a pair of messages posted to his social media platform, Trump condemned the commercial as “egregious behavior” shortly before midnight, and in a follow-up missive published seven hours later, the president’s posture took a turn toward the hysterical.

“CANADA CHEATED AND GOT CAUGHT!!!” he wrote. “They fraudulently took a big buy ad saying that Ronald Reagan did not like Tariffs, when actually he LOVED TARIFFS FOR OUR COUNTRY, AND ITS NATIONAL SECURITY. Canada is trying to illegally influence the United States Supreme Court in one of the most important rulings in the history of our Country.”

None of this makes any sense. The ad wasn’t “fraudulent”; Reagan did not love tariffs; the commercial wasn’t “illegal”; there’s little to suggest that the ad was intended to persuade Supreme Court justices; trying to persuade Supreme Court justices is not a crime; and the upcoming case over the White House trade policy isn’t even close to being one of “the most important” in American history.

Considered on the basis of its lie-per-word ratio, Trump’s screed was almost impressive in its audacity.

Nevertheless, on Friday afternoon, Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who first launched the ad in question, announced that he’d pull the ad that sparked the president’s tantrum. Whether that will be enough to get the trade talks back on track is unclear.

Amid the uncertainty, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney responded in a measured way (in contrast with his American counterpart).

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“We can’t control the trade policy of the United States,” he told reporters. “We recognize that that policy has fundamentally changed from the policy in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, and it’s a situation where the United States has tariffs against every one of their trading partners. What we can control, absolutely, is how we build here at home. … What we can also control, or at least heavily influence, is developing new partnerships and opportunities, including with the economic giants of Asia.”

It sounds like Canada is looking for new friends to replace its old one.

This is the same prime minister who declared earlier this year that the Trump-led United States is “no longer a reliable partner.” Carney added, “The old relationship we had with the United States, based on deepening integration of our economies and tight security and military cooperation, is over. … We will need to dramatically reduce our reliance on the United States. We will need to pivot our trade relationships elsewhere.”

That pivot, evidently, is ongoing — and likely to keep spinning in response to Trump’s erraticism.

UPDATE (October 24, 2025, 3:04 p.m. ET): This post has been updated to reflect Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s decision.