Southampton, New York - During a fundraising event in Southampton on Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance made demeaning comments about Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's diplomatic skills.
In audio recorded during a fundraising event on Wednesday and provided to The Canadian Press news agency, Vance is heard joking about Carney's alleged attempts to "out-tough" Trump during ongoing negotiations.
Vance is heard referring to Carney as a "very sweet guy," before saying the Canadian leader "comes in and puffs his chest out and says, 'I'm going to, like, out-tough Donald Trump.'"
"It's hilarious because Carney presents this as some victory for Canada when fundamentally, like, they climb down on a lot of issues," Vance reportedly said.
"But the quiet sort of behind-the-scenes story is that this, like, random MP who has a good relationship with us has been a pretty effective advocate."
His comment about a "random MP" is actually in reference to Conservative parliamentarian Jamil Jivani, a long-time friend of Vance.
The vice president's insults weren't only directed at Carney, either, as he was quick to turn his vitriol towards Conservative Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre, who he called a "non-entity" in negotiations.
Vance's comments came at a tricky time for US-Canada relations, days after Trump announced a three-day extension to his 50% tariff threat, and hours after a call between he and Carney yielded a potentially viable deal.
"Yeah, we had a very good conversation with the Prime Minister last night," Trump said during a press conference on Wednesday. "We've come to a deal with Canada."
"It's a very fair deal for both," Trump said. "The tariffs will be nonexistent for our farmers – our farmers were paying tremendous tariffs into Canada and those tariffs are gonna be totally eviscerated down to zero."