US President Donald Trump and Canadian PM Mark Carney. Something shifted in Ottawa this week. Mark Carney stopped playing diplomat and started speaking plainly, accusing the Trump administration of behaving in ways he says don't fit the dignity of their offices. His timing wasn't random. In just a few days, Canada plans to strike back against Trump's tariffs with duties of its own. So when Carney says he wants Washington to quit the jokes, quit the posturing, and actually negotiate, he's not just venting. "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 said on Tuesday, when asked by reporters if trade talks with US could resume. His bigger claim was more striking still: there's no active negotiation happening between the two countries right now, full stop. Greer thinks Canada's position weakened once talks fell through, and that the tariffs now hitting both economies are largely a result of that collapse. Canada answered in kind. Given its status as America's second biggest trading partner, the country unveiled its own $20 billion tariff package targeting U.S. goods, due to take effect September 8. Once both sets of tariffs are fully in place, everyday Americans will likely notice it, even in routine purchases. One specific ask from Canada stuck in his craw: reduced taxes on heavy duty trucks. Greer singled that out as the demand that effectively sank the talks. Canada's version of events looks nothing like that. Officials there say the real problem was chaos inside the White House itself, with no clear answer on who was actually leading the negotiations. Carney added a another grievance to the mix too, claiming American negotiators treated Canada's use of French as some kind of nuisance. Sagar is a journalist with an interest primarily in geopolitics and American domestic politics. Before joining Times Now, he wrote for Republic and Sw... View More