Carney suggests US officials stop ‘doing memes,’ ‘throwing shade,’ ‘trying to be tough’

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney went after U.S. officials on Monday amid trade tensions between the two countries, suggesting “the Americans stop doing memes.”

“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, discussing a possible trade deal.

“But it’s, look, it’s not constructive,” he added.

U.S.-Canadian relations have soured the last few weeks amid a trade dispute in which Canada pulled its negotiators from discussions with the U.S., which led to both countries slapping tariffs on each other’s goods.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday appeared to swipe at the Canadian military in a post on the social platform X , featuring a screenshot of an Instagram post from a branch of Canada’s Cadet Program, a youth program within the Canadian military.

Hegseth captioned the post with a Canadian flag, also saying “(this is real),” appearing to make fun of people in the post and their physical features.

When asked by a reporter Monday about “U.S. Cabinet secretaries insulting the Canadian military,” Carney responded sharply by saying, “It’s beneath their office.”

Last week, Trump signed an executive order formally changing the name of Lake Ontario, which shares its name with the Canadian province, to “Lake America” as the trade tension kept rolling.

“We’re going to be changing the name of Lake Ontario effective immediately to Lake America,” Trump said last Thursday.

The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment.