Carney tells Trump to ‘stop doing memes’ and get serious on trade

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday urged the Trump administration to drop its social media provocations and return to serious negotiations, saying trade talks can resume once Washington stops treating the dispute as an online spectacle.

"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," Carney told reporters in Ottawa. "But look, it's not constructive, but that's their democracy."apnews+1

The remarks came after a week of escalating taunts from U.S. officials. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent mocked Canada's military capacity on CNBC, asking whether Ottawa would "take their two submarines from the Edmonton Mall and sic them on us". Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted a photo on X of a young female cadet at a Canadian youth training center with the caption "(this is real)" and a Canadian flag emoji — widely interpreted as body-shaming. The Pentagon stood by the post, saying "The X post speaks for itself".politico+2

Carney called such comments "beneath their office".reuters

Why Talks Collapsed

Negotiations between the two countries broke down on Aug. 21 after what Carney described as an "accumulation of issues." He accused Washington of introducing last-minute demands that would have restricted Canada's ability to sign trade deals with other countries, undermined French-language cultural protections, and imposed terms on the auto sector that would have left Canadian industries "gradually wound down in Canada and wiped out".cbc+1

"The attitude of the United States has been one that the core Canadian industries either would be subsidiaries, effectively, of the United States industries, or would put in place terms where those industries would be gradually wound down," Carney said. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer disputed that characterization, telling Politico that "there's not like a better deal out there available for the Canadians".politico+1

The U.S. imposed 50 percent tariffs on roughly $20 billion worth of Canadian imports after the talks failed. Canada's retaliatory tariffs on a similar dollar amount of U.S. goods, targeting more than 700 products at rates from 15 to 50 percent, are set to take effect Sept. 8. Greer warned that additional U.S. tariffs or import bans could follow.apnews+1

Political Winds at Carney's Back

Carney spoke from a position of domestic strength after the Liberal Party swept three special elections on Monday night, including a decisive win in Chicoutimi–Le Fjord, Quebec, where the Conservatives fell to third place. The victories brought the Liberals to 173 seats in the 343-seat House of Commons.apnews

Nelson Wiseman, a professor emeritus of political science at the University of Toronto, noted that Trump's annexation rhetoric resonates particularly in Quebec. "Quebecers have the most to lose in an apocalyptic scenario where the U.S. absorbs Canada, and the status of the French language disappears," he said.apnews

Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne was scheduled to meet Bessent on Tuesday at the G20 finance ministers' meeting in Asheville, North Carolina. But with no formal trade talks planned and both sides preparing new tariffs, the path back to the negotiating table remains unclear.cbc