The Delusion of Decorum: Why Carney's Plea for 'Seriousness' is a Strategic Failure

OPINION: Prime Minister Mark Carney is operating on a diplomatic frequency that no longer exists in Washington. As first reported by CityNews Toronto, Carney told reporters in Ottawa on Tuesday that he wants President Donald Trump and his administration to stop "doing memes," stop "throwing shade," and finally get serious about trade negotiations. Carney believes that once the U.S. abandons its social media tirades and online trolling, Canada can return to the table to find a "mutually beneficial" deal.

This is a naive misreading of the room. Carney is treating the Trump administration's behavior as a distraction from the negotiations; in reality, the behavior *is* the negotiation.

For the Trump administration, the "memes" and public aggression are not glitches—they are the playbook. This has manifested in social media attacks and Trump's claim that Canada possesses nothing the U.S. actually needs. Trump even used a sharpie to declare he is renaming Lake Ontario as "Lake America." Simultaneously, U.S. Department of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth mocked female members of a Cadet Training Centre in Vernon, B.C., in a post that Pentagon deputy press secretary Jacob Bliss suggested "speaks for itself."

Carney's response—labeling these actions as "beneath their office" and "not constructive"—is a relic of a decade-old diplomatic era. By framing the conflict as a choice between "memes" and "seriousness," Carney is attempting to shame a partner who views traditional decorum as a weakness to be exploited.

While Carney maintains that Canada will return to talks once the U.S. shows respect, the U.S. has already pivoted to a strategy of maximum pressure, evidenced by additional tariffs. Carney defended walking away from the table to protect Canadian sovereignty, alleging that U.S. terms would have turned core Canadian industries into subsidiaries of the U.S. or forced their gradual wind-down.

Even within Canada, there is recognition that the "high road" is a lonely place. Ontario Premier Doug Ford previously leaned into the chaos by calling Trump "a loser" and mocking his private sector bankruptcies, though Ford later admitted he got carried away.

As long as the Prime Minister believes that the path to a deal requires the Trump administration to adopt a traditional, "serious" posture, Canada is playing a game that ended years ago. The memes aren't the obstacle to the trade talks; they are the terms of engagement.