Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has told the Trump administration Tuesday to “stop doing memes, stop throwing shade and stop trying to be tough,” as he pushed back against a fresh wave of attacks from Washington.
In a sign of the deepening rift between the North American neighbours, Carney said US-Canada trade talks could resume if Washington became serious about negotiations, but he also accused the United States of pursuing terms that he said could leave Canadian industries “gradually wound down in Canada and wiped out.”
“When the Americans stop doing memes, stop throwing shade and stop trying to be tough, and start being serious about having those discussions, we can have those discussions,” Carney said. “It’s not constructive, but that’s their democracy.”
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His comments came during a fresh barrage from Washington since trade talks collapsed on August 21. Trump has moved to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America” and taunted Canada on social media, while US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned Canada that it could not go “tit for tat” with an economy 13 times larger.
Carney said Washington was also seeking limits on Canada’s future trade deals.
“We’re not going to — of course, we’re not going to accept those terms,” Carney said. “Canada is a sovereign state. We will strike free trade deals with the countries we wish to strike free trade deals.”
Bea Bruske, president of the Canadian Labour Congress, said Carney told labor leaders they could not expect relations with the United States to “go back to normal any time soon,” calling the current situation “a new normal that we have to get adjusted to.”
However, Bessent downplayed the effects of the ongoing trade war with the USA’s northern neighbour.
“The Canadian deal has virtually no impact on American prices. No impact,” he insisted Wednesday on Fox & Friends.
Bessent blamed the impasse and rounds of retaliatory tariffs from both sides on Canada’s Prime Minister. He said “Carney has made a political decision” to stop a deal that “was on the 1-yard line.”
The secretary predicted that Carney “will have to come back” for negotiations, and he suggested that the next deal the US offers won’t be as good.
