Trump’s Economic Adviser Mentions Canadian Content Broadcasting Rules as Trade Irritant

Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, walks toward the West Wing at the White House on June 30, 2025. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

A top economic adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump mentioned Canada’s broadcasting rules requiring Canadian content as a current irritant in trade negotiations.

U.S. National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett spoke with CNN on Oct. 31 and was asked if Canada moving closer to China on trade will benefit the United States.

“What is good for the United States is getting Canada to start to adhere to their previous agreements and to follow the rule of law and to stop punishing American companies the way they’ve been,” Hassett said.

The reporter’s question came as Canada has declared having a “strategic partnership” with China as it ramps up diplomatic efforts to rebuild ties and expand trade with Beijing.

Hassett mentioned the Digital Services Tax as a trade irritant with Canada, even though Ottawa pledged to rescind it in June after Trump cancelled trade talks over the tax, which was set to imminently impact large U.S. companies doing business online.

Hassett also noted how media companies need to have a certain amount of Canadian content to broadcast in Canada, as a result of the Liberals’ Online Streaming Act (Bill C-11) adopted in 2023.

“They’ve got to make a quota in Canada of how many Canadian actors they have,” he said. “They’ve got stuff like that littered throughout the economy, and it’s gotten worse and worse under these Liberal governments, and so President Trump won’t stand for it.”

Hassett added that Canadian negotiators have been “rude and dismissive.”

The official had shared similar views last week in commenting on Trump cancelling trade talks because of Ontario’s anti-tariff TV ad running in the United States. He said the issue was not only the ad but that there was “frustration that’s built up” in the talks.

Prime Minister Mark Carney dismissed that idea on Oct. 27 when asked by reporters about potential frustration on the U.S. side.

“There were a series of very detailed, very specific, very comprehensive discussions, negotiations on the areas [of steel, aluminum, and energy] up until the point of those ads running,” he said.

Bill C-11 is mentioned as a trade barrier in Canada in the latest report from the U.S. Trade Representative, but it hasn’t been raised prominently in public as an issue by the Trump administration.

The bill revamped the Broadcasting Act to direct the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to ensure that online streaming services contribute to Canadian and indigenous content.

Those services that cannot make a “maximum or predominant” use of Canadian human resources have to contribute in an “equitable manner,” the bill says.

The CRTC announced in 2024 it would require online streaming services to contribute 5 percent of their Canadian revenues to support the broadcasting system.

While the Trump administration had not been overly vocal about the issue so far, a group of 18 Republican lawmakers wrote to top trade officials in the White House in late July calling the Bill C-11 measures “discriminatory” to U.S. companies, according to a letter obtained by CBC News.

Other trade irritants the U.S. side has been more outspoken about include the high tariffs Canada has on dairy products as a result of its supply management system.

Trump mentioned this issue specifically a day after he cancelled trade talks with Canada because of Ontario’s anti-tariff ad.

“Canada has long cheated on Tariffs, charging our farmers as much as 400%,” he said on Truth Social.

Ontario’s TV ad for the U.S. market used audio from a 1987 radio address by former President Ronald Reagan, in which he praises free trade, including with Canada. The radio address begins with Reagan explaining that he reluctantly imposed duties on Japan because of a trade dispute on semiconductors, but this part does not appear in the ad.

“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,” wrote Trump.

As a result, Trump said he would not discuss trade with Carney for “a while.” The two leaders saw each other at the APEC meeting in South Korea this week. Trump told reporters on Oct. 31 he would not resume negotiations but that Carney had apologized for Ontario’s anti-tariff ad.