RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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U.S. President Donald Trump greets Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the White House in Washington, D.C. on May 6, 2025. —Mandel Ngan––Getty Images
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney took a swipe at U.S. President Donald Trump when a teleprompter malfunctioned in the middle of his on-camera speech.
During a housing policy news briefing at a construction site in Toronto on Wednesday, Carney was speaking in French before he abruptly stopped, telling the crowd in English: “I would now like to inform you that the teleprompter has ceased to function. Unlike a certain world leader, I do not view this as a conspiracy.”
Carney laughed, along with the audience, as he delivered the quip, before launching back into the French-language portion of his speech.
The remark appeared to reference Trump's claims of “sabotage” after a teleprompter malfunctioned during his address at the United Nations General Assembly in New York last September.
“I don’t mind making this speech without a teleprompter, because the teleprompter is not working,” Trump had said on stage. “I can only say that whoever’s operating this teleprompter is in big trouble.”
The incident came after Trump and his wife, First Lady Melania, encountered a stalled escalator en route to the main speaking hall.
“This wasn’t a coincidence, this was triple sabotage at the U.N. They ought to be ashamed of themselves. I’m sending a copy of this letter to the Secretary General, and I demand an immediate investigation,” he said after the event, insisting there had also been sound issues in the auditorium.
Trump has yet to publicly respond to Carney referencing the teleprompter incident, but he did continue his criticism of Canada during his own speech on Wednesday afternoon.
Addressing a crowd at the Red Rock Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada, Trump touted his economic and immigration policies ahead of the crucial November midterm elections .
Referencing his controversial approach to tariffs, Trump said : “I love tariffs, right? Because we've been screwed by tariffs used against us for years. By China, by Japan, by South Korea, by Germany, by everybody, by Canada.”
Going on to insult his northern neighbors, the President continued: “Canada’s nasty. They are, they’re nasty. I love the people, but they’re nasty, nasty leadership.”
This is the latest example of the rift between Trump and Carney and, beyond that, the U.S. and Canada.
Since Trump returned to the Oval Office for a second term, relations between the two countries have become increasingly strained, partly due to a long-standing row over trade.
Canada imposed tariffs on some vehicle imports from the U.S. in 2025 amid a trade war sparked by Trump’s global tariffs , the majority of which were struck down by a Supreme Court ruling earlier this year.
In early July, tensions came to a head once more when the U.S. declined to renew the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement .
Toward the end of the month, Trump announced a 50% tariff hike on Canadian goods, with the levies set to come into effect on Aug. 19.
Trump’s repeated mentions of his desire to annex Canada and make it the 51st U.S. state —an idea he revisited in June —have also caused upset.
In an April 2025 interview with TIME, Trump denied he was “trolling” when talking about his desire to annex Canada. “We’re taking care of their military. We're taking care of every aspect of their lives… We don't need anything from Canada. And I say the only way this thing really works is for Canada to become a state,” he said .
Carney has strongly pushed back against Trump's comments, stressing Canada's sovereignty is “not for sale .”
Other Canadian officials have also vocally opposed the annexation rhetoric, with Ontario Premier Doug Ford insisting : “Canada will never be the 51st state. Canada is not for sale.”
Meanwhile, Canada has been battling a series of major summer wildfires , with smoke drifting into parts of the northeastern and midwestern United States.
Trump seized on the crisis to again criticize Canada's leadership, vowing to hold the country “responsible” on account of the U.S. being “unnecessarily invaded by filthy, polluted, and unhealthy air.”
When asked whether he had decided on a penalty for Canada over the wildfire smoke, Trump told reporters on Aug. 2: “I have, yeah. You’ll find out about it.” He did not elaborate further.
The bridge that became a symbol of U.S.-Canada tensions
One symbol of the deteriorating relationship is the Gordie Howe International Bridge . The construction and collaboration involved in the newly-opened bridge, which connects Detroit, Michigan, to Windsor, Ontario, was plagued with difficulties.
Trump, in February, threatened to block the bridge's opening, complaining that the infrastructure had been built with “virtually no U.S. content” and demanding compensation.
More recently, there have been disagreements over the planned distribution of tolls.
Tensions erupted after the White House announced a 50% hike on certain Canadian goods on July 20, in response to what it insisted was Canada’s “discriminatory treatment” of American products.
Amid the fallout, Canadian officials canceled a joint ribbon-cutting ceremony intended to mark the opening of the bridge, instead opting to celebrate the milestone on July 24 without any U.S. representatives.
"In light of trade action threatened by the United States, it would be inappropriate to proceed with a celebratory event between the two countries,” Jenna Ghassabeh, a spokesperson for Canadian Infrastructure Minister Gregor Robertson, told TIME in an emailed statement ahead of the event.
At the ceremony, Ford—who was dressed in a Team Canada jersey in honor of prolific Canadian ice hockey player Gordie Howe—said "Canada has never been more united.” He vowed that “Ontario will be ready to respond to any new American tariffs [and] will not back down and will negotiate from a position of strength."
Trump called out Canada’s decision to “disin...
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