Canadian PM tells Trump to 'stop trying to be tough' in trade fight

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Monday that Americans need to "stop trying to be tough" during the countries' contentious trade negotiations.

Speaking to reporters in Ottawa about U.S.-Canadian trade negotiations over automobile tariffs, Carney said, "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."

"Look, it's not constructive, but that's their democracy," Carney added.

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After Canada suspended trade talks on Aug. 21, Trump signed an executive order changing the name of Lake Ontario, which is bordered by New York and Canada's Ontario province, to Lake America.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and War Secretary Pete Hegseth also mocked Canada in social media posts, with Bessent writing that Canada could not go "tit-for-tat" with America's economy and Hegseth posting a photo of two female Canadian military members with the caption "this is real."

When asked to comment on U.S. Cabinet secretaries mocking the Canadian military, Carney responded, "It's beneath their office."

Carney cited both the U.S. posture and its terms in negotiations and barriers to reaching a deal.

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"The issues with respect to language and culture — enough to not have to deal. The issues Mr. Gray just asked about, with respect to restrictions on future trade deals, restrictions on our sovereignty — enough not to have a deal. Issues with respect to locking in an uncompetitive, trade arrangement in our key industries, automobiles being one of them — enough to not have a trade deal," he continued.

"And then the general attitude, and I’ll leave you with this, which I think this is a very important point, is that the attitude of the United States in these discussions and subsequently 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 in Canada and we're not going to of course, we're not going to accept those terms."

Trump, following Carney's suspension of negotiations, accused Canada of wanting "the benefits of being a State, without being one!!!"

In a post on Truth Social, Trump also said Canada has been taking advantage of the U.S. by charging U.S. farmers tariffs.

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Carney, for his part, said America's insistence that it have a say over who else Canada trades with was a bridge too far.

He also said the U.S. view of the trade relationship was "misguided," adding that on automobiles, the U.S. needs both Canada and Mexico.

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"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 auto, it's important that we work together. That's why I say yes, there is a mutually beneficial deal," he told reporters.

Carney did leave the door open for further negotiations.

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"There were elements of that mutually beneficial deal that we were moving towards, which is why we were still at the table. But we never, viewed that we had that deal. And it diverged towards the end. At some point, maybe it'll converge again," Carney said.

He told lawmakers in his country that relations with the U.S. will not "go back to normal any time soon" and said the situation is "a new normal that we have to get adjusted to."

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Carney, matching a slate of tariffs the U.S. imposed on Canadian goods such as steel and lumber, imposed his own set of tariffs which he said will go "dollar for dollar" with America's tariffs. The Canadian levies are set to take effect on Sept. 8.

Fox News Digital contacted the White House, the office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the U.S. Treasury, the Pentagon and the Canadian Prime Minister's Office for further comment.

Fox News Digital's Michael Sinkewicz, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.