Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney turned a technical mishap into a pointed jab at U.S. President Donald Trump after his teleprompter cut out mid-speech during a housing announcement at a construction site in Toronto.
Carney was speaking in French before abruptly stopping and switching to English to tell the crowd, “I would now like to inform you that the teleprompter has ceased to function.”
“Unlike a certain world leader, I do not view this as a conspiracy,” he added, drawing laughter from the audience.
Trump’s ‘triple sabotage’ at the U.N.
Carney’s quip referred to September 2025, when Trump’s teleprompter failed during his address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, prompting the president to claim afterward that he had been sabotaged.
The speech had been billed as Trump’s most significant foreign policy address of the year, but the malfunction, combined with an escalator that stalled while carrying him and First Lady Melania Trump into the hall, disrupted the event.
Donald told the assembly that whoever was operating the teleprompter was “in big trouble,” then read from printed notes until the screen came back online.
He later described the incidents as “triple sabotage” in a Truth Social post, demanding an investigation and saying those responsible should be arrested. He also insisted the escalator’s security footage, particularly around the emergency stop button, be preserved and urged U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres to investigate personally.
The United Nations disputed Donald’s account. A U.N. spokesperson said the escalator stopped because a built-in safety mechanism was triggered, apparently by a videographer traveling with the U.S. delegation and noted that his own team, not U.N. staff, was responsible for operating the teleprompter.
Not Mark’s first attempt at the joke
This was not the first time Mark tried the line. At a Greater Vancouver Board of Trade event in May, he began teasing a similar joke about a teleprompter and a conspiracy theory before stopping himself, telling the audience, “Happens, it happens,” according to The Hill.
On August 5, he delivered the joke in full.
Rift between Washington and Ottawa
Mark’s jab came against the backdrop of increasingly strained relations between the two allies.
Since taking office in March 2025, Mark and Donald have repeatedly clashed. The exchange came amid broader tensions between Washington and Ottawa over trade.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer also said the current administration will not renew the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement that Donald negotiated during his first term, even though the pact does not expire until 2036. Instead, the decision will trigger annual reviews of the agreement.
The dispute could intensify around August 19, when the United States is scheduled to impose 50% tariffs on roughly 5% of Canadian exports, targeting products ranging from alcohol and hockey sticks to cement.
Canadian officials, including Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc and chief trade negotiator Janice Charette, have been meeting with U.S. counterparts in Washington, including Greer, as both sides try to resolve the trade disputes.
Donald fires back
Hours after Mark’s remark, Donald appeared at a campaign-style rally at the Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas, where he defended his tariff policy and renewed his criticism of Canada.
“Because we’ve been screwed by tariffs used against us for years — by China, by Japan, by South Korea, by Germany, by everybody, by Canada,” Donald told the crowd.
“Canada’s nasty,” Donald said. “They are. They’re nasty. I love the people, but they’re nasty. Nasty leadership.”
It was not clear whether his remarks were a response to Mark’s earlier joke.