OTTAWA — U.S. President Donald Trump denied Tuesday that Washington sought to interfere with French-language protections during failed trade negotiations with Canada, accusing Prime Minister Mark Carney of inventing the dispute to gain support in Quebec.Carney did not claim Trump wanted to stop Canadians from speaking French. He said American negotiators treated Canadian rules protecting French-language content, labelling and culture as trade irritants and sought changes Ottawa would not accept.“I would never interfere with Canadians speaking French!” Trump wrote on Truth Social Tuesday morning.“In fact, I have never even thought of doing such a stupid thing.”Trump called Carney a “weak and ineffective Prime Minister” and accused him of fabricating the issue to recover political support he had “totally lost” among Quebecers.“I love French Canadians!” Trump added..The post was Trump’s second direct attack against Canada Tuesday morning.Less than an hour earlier, he threatened to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America,” saying Washington did not expect to conduct much business with Ontario in the future.Trump’s French-language comments followed Carney’s explanation of why Ottawa abandoned negotiations late Friday.Carney said Saturday the final American proposal would have compromised Canadian sovereignty, harmed strategic industries and weakened protections for French language and culture.“We were not prepared to compromise on the protection of the French language and our culture,” Carney said.“To our American colleagues, let’s be clear: for my government and for Canada, these issues were never on the table, even though the United States tried until the very last minute.”Speaking in Lévis, Quebec., on Monday, Carney offered more detail about the dispute.He said U.S. negotiators raised Canadian requirements governing the discoverability of French-language programming on streaming services, along with French-language product-labelling rules.“For the Americans, questions about the French language, Quebec culture, francophone culture and Canadian culture are irritants,” Carney said in French.“Here in Quebec, here in Canada, they are rights — fundamental rights.”The distinction was between preventing Canadians from speaking French, which Trump denied contemplating, and changing regulations intended to protect or promote French, which Carney said Washington challenged during negotiations.U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer also rejected Carney’s characterization, calling it a “funny fake story.”American officials have framed the streaming dispute as opposition to rules requiring large foreign digital companies to contribute part of their Canadian revenues to the domestic broadcasting system.The language issue was only one part of the collapsed negotiations.Carney said Washington also introduced last-minute terms that would have offered insufficient tariff relief to Canadian auto manufacturers, restricted Canada’s ability to negotiate trade agreements with other countries and weakened protections for Canadian culture and sovereignty.“In short, they asked too much and offered too little,” he said.The United States imposed 50% tariffs Saturday on roughly $28 billion worth of Canadian goods after the talks collapsed.Carney has promised retaliatory tariffs on an equivalent value of American products beginning September 8, targeting sectors including steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper and electronics.Trump escalated the dispute Monday by threatening to increase tariffs on Canadian cars, trucks, automotive parts and steel to 50% beginning January 1, 2027.
