Here’s how much Ronald Reagan hated tariffs, in his own words

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Statement upon signing the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, Jan. 2, 1988:

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This comprehensive agreement will benefit many sectors of the U.S. economy. Canadian and American tariffs will be phased out completely, saving consumers hundreds of millions of dollars while also improving our export opportunities. It will secure access to Canada’s market for American manufacturing, agriculture, financial services, and high technology; improve national security through energy sharing; and provide important investment opportunities.

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Radio address on free trade with Canada, Jan. 9, 1988:

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We will be an example to all the world of what free people can accomplish and demonstrate, that the path to economic growth, job creation, and security is through negotiation and cooperation, not protectionism.

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Welcoming Prime Minister Brian Mulroney to the White House, April 27, 1988:

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We shall show by deed and dedication…that the lowering of tariffs and trade barriers is the way to a more prosperous world. Protectionism is out, and trade expansion is in.

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Toasting Prime Minister Brian Mulroney at a State Dinner at the White House, April 27, 1988:

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The (Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement) will become one of the most important achievements of my tenure in Washington… We are unshackling our trading relationship in a broad-based effort to make our two countries more prosperous at home while making ourselves more competitive abroad. We’re players in a world economy, and our free trade agreement will help make us the world-class competitors we must be.

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Speech to the American Coalition for Trade Expansion with Canada, June 16, 1988:

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Protectionism has no future; it’s a dead and discredited idea. In a global economy, there can be no surer way of impoverishing ourselves than to try to make America go it alone, by cutting us off from trade and investment with the other countries of the world. The protectionists make me think of the story of that Sunday school teacher who asks her class, “Who wants to go to heaven?” And all of the children raise their hands except for one little boy in the back of the room. The teacher, astounded, says, “Charlie, don’t you want to go to heaven?” And he says, “Yep, but not with this bunch.”

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U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs legislation implementing the U.S.-Canada free trade agreement during a ceremony at the White House, Sept. 28, 1988. Photo by Scott Stewart /AP

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Signing the Canada U.S. Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, The White House, Sept. 28, 1988:

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This agreement brings down the tariff walls between our two nations and, in so doing, creates the world’s largest free-trade area. Businesses and consumers in both our countries will have unprecedented freedom to choose among a staggering array of goods and services. It’ll mean lower prices for consumers, jobs galore for workers, and new markets for producers… It means a stronger and freer marketplace for the United States and Canada. There’ll be a rich flow of agriculture and energy resources from one country to the other in a way that will profit both. We also deal with the service sectors of our economies, providing for the first time an explicit assurance that in such areas as accounting, tourism, insurance, and engineering our peoples will be free to choose their suppliers.

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Public historian Arthur Milnes of Kingston served as the memoirs’ assistant to the Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney, and was a speechwriter to then prime minister Stephen J. Harper.

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