Legendary college basketball broadcaster Bill Raftery added another highlight call to his catalogue on Friday night when he referenced President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canada during the Illinois-Purdue game.
On Tuesday, the US imposed a 25 percent tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico, though Trump later postponed the measure by a month for many goods.
Nonetheless, Raftery couldn’t resist mentioning the trade tensions between the US and Canada when Ontario-born Illinois forward Will Riley hit a three-pointer on Friday night.
After Riley made a three-pointer just before the end of the first half, Raftery said: ‘How ’bout this kid? No tariff on him. He can knock ’em down.’
And college basketball fans went wild for the quip after it spread on social media.
‘Bill Raftery is a national treasure,’ one fan wrote on X, in response to CBS Sports’ Tom Fornelli posting the tariff quote.
Legendary college basketball announcer Bill Raftery delighted fans on Friday night
President Donald Trump has imposed 25 percent tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico
Raftery’s Trump-themed call came after a three-pointer from Canadian player Will Riley (7)
‘Best in the business,’ another said.
‘We love Raff!!,’ a third beamed.
A fourth compared him to another broadcasting legend, writing, ‘Raftery still has his fastball in his 80s. The college hoops version of [former Dodgers announcer] Vin Scully.’
And another asked if it was the ‘best college basketball call ever?’
Imports from Mexico that comply with the 2020 USMCA trade pact would be excluded from the 25% tariffs for a month, according to the orders signed by Trump.
Auto-related imports from Canada that comply with the trade deal would also avoid the 25% tariffs for a month, while the potash that US farmers import from Canada would be tariffed at 10%, the same rate at which Trump wants to tariff Canadian energy products.
Canada initially replied to Trump’s tariffs with $30 billion Canadian (US$21 billion) worth of retaliatory tariffs on items like American orange juice, peanut butter, coffee, appliances, footwear, cosmetics, motorcycles and certain pulp and paper products.
The White House insists its tariffs are about stopping the smuggling of fentanyl, but the taxes proposed by Trump have caused a gaping wound in the decades-old North American trade partnership. Trump’s tariff plans have also caused the stock market to sink and alarmed US consumers.
In addition to his claims about fentanyl, Trump has insisted that the tariffs could be resolved by fixing the trade deficit.
Despite Trump’s postponements, Canada´s initial retaliatory tariffs against the US will remain in place, two senior Canadian government officials told the AP.