OTTAWA – Prime Minister Mark Carney told the Trump administration on Tuesday to “stop doing memes, stop throwing shade and stop trying to be tough” before U.S.-Canada trade talks can restart, a day after his Liberals swept three special elections.
“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 told reporters. He said U.S. terms would have left Canadian industries as subsidiaries or “gradually wound down in Canada and wiped out,” and that Ottawa would not accept an “uncompetitive” autos deal or limits on Canada’s future trade pacts.
Talks collapsed Aug. 21. Washington then imposed 50 percent tariffs on roughly $20 billion in Canadian goods. Canada’s dollar-for-dollar counter-tariffs on nearly $20 billion in U.S. goods are due Sept. 8, with duties from 15 to 50 percent. Trump has pushed renaming Lake Ontario “Lake America.” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Canada cannot go “tit for tat” with an economy 13 times larger.
Carney also called a Pentagon social-media jab at Canadian cadets “beneath their office.” The Liberal wins Monday lifted the party to 173 seats in the 343-seat House of Commons.
Sources: The Associated Press; Reuters.
