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Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who walked away from US trade talks last week due to what he said was American intransigence, now wants to get negotiations started again.
But he suggested Tuesday the Americans are too busy trolling.
“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 said, lamenting “It’s not constructive. But that’s their democracy.”
What Carney means is that rather than making any visible efforts to end the trade war with Canada, American leaders are trying — and sometimes failing — to own the Canucks. Meanwhile, the 50% tariffs the US imposed on a host of Canadian goods and dollar-for-dollar response tariffs from Canada continue.
Carney didn’t mention that Ontario Premier Doug Ford has also trolled Trump, and a Canadian city council is considering renaming a street currently named for Trump with a deliberately taunting moniker. But much of the new material from top officials is coming from the US.
When the White House posted an image of a bald eagle appearing to hold down a Canada goose — something it has posted before — Canadians pointed out photos showing the same goose getting the better end of the fight.
After Trump renamed Lake Ontario, he then called Apple to make sure the change showed up on maps. It does in the US, but not in Canada. And interest surged in Mapquest in App stores after it refused to change the name of Lake Ontario for US users.
While Trump has focused on nomenclature, his aides have been belittling the Canadian military
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Canada is “a country that doesn’t have a military.” That’s not true, obviously. Canadians have fought and died alongside American allies in multiple wars.
Insults do not seem to come as naturally to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who does not have a background in reality TV or at Fox News. But Bessent tried to land one on the neighbors to the North.
“I mean, we’re not at war with Canada. How are we going to be at war with Canada? They’re going to take their two set submarines from the Edmonton Mall and sic them on us,” Bessent said Monday during an interview on CNBC ahead of a G20 finance meeting he is hosting in Asheville, North Carolina.
Apparently there used to be a submarine attraction at a mall in Edmonton. Sick burn, Scott!
But Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who prefers to be called secretary of war, was clearly trying to be mean Monday on X, when he posted a photo of two women in Canadian military uniforms.
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He included a Canadian flag emoji and added, “(this is real).”
Maybe he was trying to say something about how the Canadian military is not as macho as he’s tried to make the US military.
In any event, at least one of the women in the photo may have been part of a cadet program for young Canadians. It is arguably poor form for a high-ranking US official to be trying to make fun of a young Canadian, particularly one who may be considering a move into public service. Canadians remain American military allies. They responded when the US was attacked after 9/11.
Hegseth has sometimes been on the other side of internet trolling, for example, his form doing pull-ups and bench presses in the workout videos he frequently posts have been mocked online. That’s also rather harsh, since a man deep in his 40s who can do any number of pull-ups should be celebrated.
But Hegseth doing pull-ups won’t help to end the war in Iran, which has gone months longer than Trump initially promised and warped the world economy.
Pull-ups also aren’t going to help rebuild the upper ranks of the Army. The same day Hegseth was trolling the Canadian youth, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, just before resigning, apparently went to the White House and told Trump that Hegseth’s leadership had left the Army with key leadership positions unfilled. Some of Hegseth’s picks for top generals may not have the bipartisan support to get confirmed
And he should also know better than to criticize cadets interested in the military. The US has been able to meet recruiting goals the past two years in part because of pre-enlistment programs meant to get American recruits in shape to pass fitness tests.
But Hegseth isn’t about to sanitize his insults. He leans into criticism of diversity efforts. Appearing at an event in support of a Republican Congressman at the Iowa State Fair over the weekend, Hegseth used an epithet for transgender people, whom he has tried to boot from the military.
And yes, when a partisan US official makes an appearance at the Iowa State Fair it often means they’re considering a run for president. Hegseth says he’s not.
All of these men have arguably better things to do than troll Canada. Hegseth has a war the US has yet to win. Bessent could spend some more time on the squirrely bond market, Duffy could be focused on gas prices, say.
If the trolling was meant to help build support for the US in the trade war, they have so far failed.
A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll found a majority of Americans oppose both renaming Lake Ontario and the imposition of tariffs on Canada.
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