Ilhan Omar slams Trump's ‘childish’ and ‘dangerous’ outburst over Canadian anti-tariff ad

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA: Rep Ilhan Omar (D-MN) sharply criticised President Donald Trump for his angry response to a Canadian TV ad that featured former President Ronald Reagan’s remark opposing the tariffs.

Omar described Trump’s reaction as “childish” and “dangerous”, which, according to her, is the same temperament that once drove his business ventures to failure. 

Ilhan Omar condemns Trump's reckless approach to tariffs

On the Friday, October 31, edition of 'The Dean Obeidallah Show', host Dean Obeidallah asked Ilhan Omar about the effect of the policy on her home state, Minnesota.

"What happens when Trump wakes up and doesn’t like a commercial that’s on Canadian TV, like that happened last week? 'Oh, I don’t like the way you quoted Ronald Reagan. I’m going to impose another 10%, another 10 percent tariff.' Aren’t there real-life consequences for people in Minnesota who deal with trade in Canada because he whimsically wakes up and gets angry like a child at something?" he asked. 

Omar replied, “Yeah, I mean, that’s not how you lead a nation. It is actually…I don’t even have the words for it because it is, like you said, it’s very childish. It’s very dangerous because there are real-life consequences.”

She continued, “There are people who have small businesses who rely on getting goods for cheaper so that they are able to make a living out of it. Like I said, there are farmers.”

“We have many… Manufacturers who rely on wheat in order to produce the cereals that Minnesota is known in producing. And so it’s a compounding impact that he doesn’t seem to care because he doesn't really understand how to govern a country with economic just with an economic success," the congresswoman reasoned. 

"Because again, this is a man who’s had, you know, so many bankruptcies, has run everything to the ground to always be saved by," Omar highlighted, before stressing, “But the Minnesota farmers are not being saved by him right now, and it’s very challenging.”

Trump says Ronald Reagan 'loved tariffs' in response to Canadian TV ad

The ad, which showed Ronald Reagan criticizing protectionism in 1987, sparked an angry reaction from Donald Trump. On Saturday, he told reporters he believed that the ad was “AI or something.”

“They cheated on a commercial. Ronald Reagan loved tariffs, and they said he didn’t. And I guess it was AI or something. They cheated badly. Canada got caught cheating on a commercial, can you believe it?” the president remarked.

“Because of their serious misrepresentation of the facts, and hostile act, I am increasing the Tariff on Canada by 10% over and above what they are paying now,” wrote Trump in a barnburner of a Truth Social post slamming the “fraudulent advertisement.”

“Ronald Reagan LOVED Tariffs for purposes of National Security and the Economy,” he added.