Mark Carney fired back at Trump cabinet members for mocking Canadian military cadets online.
The Canadian Prime Minister, 60, accused senior U.S. Officials of acting like internet trolls instead of serious negotiators during a Tuesday press availability. His remarks came after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted an image Monday night of a teenage cadet receiving a medal at a British Columbia training center, captioning it simply, “This is real.” Transport Secretary Sean Duffy, 53, had gone further during an August 23 appearance on Fox News Sunday, dismissing Canada outright as “a country that doesn’t have a military.”
Carney didn’t hold back when asked about the remarks. “It’s beneath their office,” he told reporters, before accusing Washington of prioritizing point-scoring over progress.
“When the Americans stop doing memes, stop throwing shade, stop trying to be tough and start being serious about having those discussions, we can have those discussions,” he continued.
The exchange marks the latest flare-up in a trade war that has intensified since talks broke down on August 21. A day later, President Donald Trump imposed a 50 percent tariff on $20 billion worth of Canadian imports. Canada responded with its own dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs, scheduled to take effect on September 8.
Trump had already stoked tensions by renaming Lake Ontario to “Lake America” last week, shortly after Canada first announced its countermeasures. Carney argued the broader U.S. Push aims to convert entire Canadian industrial sectors into “subsidiaries” of the American economy, with particular threat to the auto sector. He called the approach “misguided,” pointing to the integrated nature of North American manufacturing.
“The United States auto industry is made stronger by the Canadian and the Mexican auto industries. And at a time of big, big change in autos, it’s important that we work together,” he said.
Despite the heated rhetoric, Carney maintained that a mutually beneficial deal remains possible. “There’s a positive opportunity that has always existed with the United States for a mutually beneficial trade deal that respects Canadian sovereignty,” he said.
The White House offered a sharply contrasting assessment of the standoff. United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said that no negotiations are currently taking place, and suggested Canada has more to lose from the impasse than the U.S. Does. “It’s more their emergency than ours,” Greer said.
The core dispute centers on how far Canada is willing to restructure its economy to maintain access to the U.S. Market, which absorbs the vast majority of Canadian exports. Trump has framed the confrontation as part of his broader effort to reshore American manufacturing and reduce dependence on foreign supply chains.
Carney’s “stop doing memes” rebuke came after Hegseth’s Monday night Instagram post targeting the teenage cadet, which followed Duffy’s Fox News Sunday dismissal of Canada’s military capabilities entirely. The back-to-back cabinet attacks on a northern ally drew unusual direct pushback from the Prime Minister, who has sought to navigate the trade war without matching Trump’s most provocative moves.
Canada’s retaliatory tariffs are set to kick in September 8.