President Donald Trump made his harshest attack on Canada yet, and all he got for it was social media mockery.
During an Oval Office announcement about the U.S. steel industry on Monday, a reporter asked Trump about the current state of U.S.-Canadian relations amidst his trade war.
At first, Trump claimed that America’s neighbor to the north wants “to have a deal with us,” and said Canadian officials “call us all the time.” However, Prime Minister Mark Carney has started moving Canada away from its relationship with the U.S. and has even welcomed an invitation to become the EU’s first associate member.
Trump then went scorched-earth on Canada, saying the country has “treated the United States very unfairly,” and “been one of the worst countries in the entire world.” He also lamented how the U.S. gets along with China, but said “Canada has been really very difficult to deal with, actually, and they’ve charged our farmers 400% tariffs and more. They take advantage of us. They feel entitled.”
When asked how the trade war might end, Trump predicted over the next three or four weeks that Canadian officials were “going to come to us and they’re going to say, ‘We need to get rid of all the tariffs.’”
He added:
“We’re going to win everything. We even have Lake Ontario is now Lake America, and that’s been done, by the way. That actually just got done. They told me it was just completed. But they’re gonna come in and they’re gonna say, ‘Sir, we are sorry.’ They treated the United States very, very badly. I think a deal will be made, but it’s gotta be a fair deal.”
Watch Trump’s complete remarks below:
Given Trump’s past comments about wanting to turn Canada into the 51st state and changing the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America were widely ridiculed, it’s not surprising that his criticism of Canada was also brutally mocked on social media: