Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney turned a technical stumble into a punchline aimed squarely at U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday, drawing laughs during a news briefing in Toronto when his teleprompter went dark mid-speech.
Carney had been speaking in French at a housing policy event when he abruptly switched to English to acknowledge the glitch. He told the crowd he would like to inform them the teleprompter had stopped working, adding: “Unlike a certain world leader, I do not view this as a conspiracy.” He laughed alongside the audience before returning to the French portion of his remarks.
The jab needed no explanation for anyone who followed Trump’s address at the United Nations General Assembly in New York last September. A stalled escalator, audio problems and a teleprompter failure combined into what Trump described as coordinated sabotage. On stage, the president said he did not mind delivering the speech without the device but warned that whoever was operating it was “in big trouble.” Afterward, he escalated the complaint dramatically.
A Conspiracy Claim That Echoed
Trump wrote on Truth Social that the U.N. malfunctions amounted to “triple sabotage” and demanded an immediate investigation. He said he was sending a copy of his complaint to the secretary general and insisted the events could not have been coincidental. The president has yet to publicly respond to Carney invoking that episode.
Carney’s quip landed at a moment of deep friction between Washington and Ottawa. Canada had long been a strong U.S. ally, but the relationship has changed rapidly since Trump returned to the Oval Office for a second term. He has launched a trade war that includes a 50% tariff on nearly all Canadian goods, and he threatened further measures after smoke from Canada’s wildfires drifted into the United States.
The verbal attacks have been frequent. Trump has repeatedly referred to the prime minister as the “governor” of what he calls America’s “51st state,” and he has openly floated annexing the country. Carney has pushed back firmly, stressing that Canada’s sovereignty is not for sale, and he drew a large ovation in Davos for a speech urging “middle powers” to stand up to the United States.
Trump Renews Attacks in Las Vegas
Even as Carney was drawing laughs in Toronto, Trump kept up his criticism of Canada during a Wednesday afternoon speech at the Red Rock Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada. Speaking to a crowd ahead of the crucial November midterm elections, the president promoted his economic and immigration agenda and defended his approach to tariffs. He said he loves tariffs because the country had been taken advantage of for years by trading partners including China, Japan, South Korea, Germany and Canada.
He then turned his attention north. Trump told the audience that while he loves the Canadian people, he considers the country’s leadership “nasty.” It was not the first time he had reached for that word to describe his neighbor.
Carney was asked about the insult by a reporter on Thursday and laughed off the characterization, steering his answer back to the substance of the negotiations. He acknowledged the talks were tough and said a reporter could swap in the adjective “nasty” if they liked, but he framed the stakes as Canadian jobs and the future of Canadian businesses. Whatever word was used, he said, his government was standing up for Canadian workers, as it had from the start.
Trade Tensions at the Core
The dispute is rooted in a long-standing row over trade. In 2025, Canada imposed tariffs on some vehicle imports from the United States as tensions mounted. The clash has since expanded across multiple fronts, with each side digging in.
Trump’s push to fold Canada into the United States has been a recurring theme of his rhetoric. He has argued that the U.S. underwrites Canada’s military and other needs, contending the arrangement only works if Canada becomes a state. When pressed earlier, he denied he was merely trolling with the annexation talk. Carney, for his part, has treated the idea as a genuine threat to national sovereignty rather than a joke, and his response has been consistent even when he keeps his tone light.
The teleprompter moment captured that dynamic in miniature. Faced with a malfunction that once sent Trump into a public rage, Carney chose humor and self-deprecation, drawing a pointed contrast between his own reaction and the president’s insistence that unseen forces were working against him. The image of Trump greeting Carney at the White House on May 6, 2025, now reads as a relic of a warmer chapter that has given way to open sparring.
For now, the two leaders remain locked in negotiations with no clear resolution in sight, and the exchanges have grown increasingly personal. Carney’s crack about conspiracy thinking may not shift the balance of the trade fight, but it signaled that Ottawa is prepared to answer Trump’s barbs with a smile rather than a snarl.