MEME-FODDER MARK: Carney blew up the trade deal. Now Canada is the punch line.

After Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney declared that Canada was “at war” with the United States and walked away from a proposed trade deal last month, Canada quickly became an object of ridicule in Washington.

But after blowing up the trade deal, Carney has been less eager to explain exactly what happened. He has ignored Official Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre’s demand to reconvene Parliament or provide the Conservative leader with details of the failed trade negotiations.

‘How are we going to be at war with Canada? What, are they going to take their two submarines from the Edmonton Mall and sic them on us?’

Carney has offered a broad explanation for walking away, arguing that Washington was demanding concessions that threatened Canadian sovereignty and could eventually wipe out important Canadian industries, particularly auto manufacturing.

American officials tell a very different story.

‘Best deal available’

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer flatly denied Carney’s allegations that President Donald Trump wanted somehow to interfere with Quebec culture or erode official bilingualism in Canada.

“We had agreed to, as I’ve shared before in the press, really the best deal available to any country on the planet with respect to Canada,” Greer told CBC News in the aftermath of Carney’s withdrawal.

What Carney did emerge to address Tuesday was something else: the memes.

“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,” he told reporters Tuesday.

As with all attempts to demand that people on the internet stop making fun of you, Carney’s statement had the opposite effect. Even American officials couldn’t resist a little trolling.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent mocked Carney’s claim that the countries were “at war.”

“I think this is very unfortunate that Prime Minister Carney has turned this into a political shouting match,” Bessent said.

“I mean, we’re not at war with Canada. How are we going to be at war with Canada? What, are they going to take their two submarines from the Edmonton Mall and sic them on us?”

Looking out for number one?

Then Bessent got more serious.

“He came to power on an anti-American, anti-Trump agenda. He was 20 points behind in the polls, and then he started this.

“It’s unfortunate that he’s not doing what’s best for the Canadian people. He’s doing what is best for the Liberal Party, what’s best for Mark Carney, and in the long run, the Canadian people are going to see through that.”

Bessent reiterated the administration’s contention that Canada had been offered “the best trade deal of any country on the globe” before Carney walked away from it at “the last minute.”

Carney may not have been the only Canadian politician responsible for blowing up the agreement.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford reportedly pushed for better treatment of Ontario’s auto industry and resisted returning American alcohol to the shelves of Ontario’s government-owned liquor stores.

Since the deal collapsed, Ford has even suggested that Alberta could cut off oil shipments to the United States — an idea he has floated before.

There was an awkward problem with Ford’s threat: Ontario itself depends on Alberta oil that travels through the United States. Enbridge’s Line 5 crosses Michigan before returning to Canada and supplying Ontario refineries.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith quickly rejected Ford’s idea, warning that cutting off Alberta energy exports to the United States would be “extremely harmful to Canadians.”

RELATED: MILK MONEY: How Mark Carney chose the dairy cartel — and China — over a Trump trade deal

Bloomberg/Kirsty O’Conner/Nuria Gonzalez-Sanchez/Getty Images

Key role for American Democrat

There are also legitimate questions about other sticking points in the failed negotiations. Carney remains committed to Canada’s heavily protected dairy sector, opposed to reviving the Keystone XL pipeline, and increasingly interested in expanding trade with China. The Trump administration has also accused Canada of serving as a route for Chinese steel transshipped into the United States to evade American trade restrictions.

And the questions about Carney’s handling of the United States don’t end with the trade deal.

Take Maia Johnson, the American and registered Democrat with ties to the Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, and Kamala Harris campaigns, whom Carney promoted to the newly created position of chief operating officer in the prime minister’s office. Before the promotion, Johnson held the revealing title of “senior adviser, United States stakeholder strategy” — meaning Carney had already put an American Democratic operative in a key role advising him on how to deal with the United States.

‘Manufactured’ crisis

Whatever was going on inside Carney’s office, the Trump administration has been remarkably consistent about what happened to the deal.

“Canada was going to have the best trade deal in the world,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told reporters. “And what happened was that Canada walked away. We had a deal. We shook hands. The president announced it, right? Everybody was positive. Canada made the decision for political purposes. They wanted to walk away.”

Lutnick also rejected Carney’s contention that Washington had sought concessions involving Quebec and the French language.

“Do I care about how the Quebecois speak?” Lutnick said. “I mean, what could matter less to America? We don’t care.”

“This is manufacturing,” he continued. “That’s why the president put out a Truth [Social post] saying it was a complete lie.”