U.S. official takes a jab at Canada with defunct West Edmonton Mall submarines
If you didn’t think that the U.S.-Canada trade war could get any more ridiculous, well, the West Edmonton Mall submarines have somehow now joined the fray.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent took a shot at Canada’s military capabilities during an interview with CNBC on Monday, using the mall’s decommissioned submarines as a punchline while discussing the ongoing trade war.
Bessent was asked whether the U.S. is in a tit-for-tat trade war with Canada.
“I don’t think you can be in a tit-for-tat with someone who’s 13 times larger than you are,” he said, before dismissing Canada’s position in the dispute.
“They say they’re doing okay,” CNBC’s Sara Eisen responded.
“What else are they going to say?” Bessent said, shrugging.
He then launched into criticism of Prime Minister Mark Carney, calling the dispute a “political shouting match.”
.@SecScottBessent absolutely TORCHES Canada:
“Very unfortunate that PM Carney has turned this into a political shouting match. I mean, we’re not at war with Canada… What are they going to do ā take their two submarines from the Edmonton Mall and sic them on us?” pic.twitter.com/NTVkgvnWMo
ā Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) August 31, 2026
“We’re not in a war with Canada. How can we be at war with Canada? What are they going to do ā take their two submarines from the Edmonton mall and sic them on us?” Bessent said.
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The submarines he is referring to were part of West Edmonton Mall’s Deep Sea Adventure ride, which opened in 1985. They were decommissioned in 2005.
Bessent then went on to accuse Carney of putting the Liberal Party and his own interests ahead of Canadians, and claimed that Canada had walked away from “the best trade deal of any country on the globe.”
The latest comments come as Canada remains locked in a very real and increasingly strange trade dispute with our neighbours to the south.
Relations between Canada and the U.S. have been significantly strained by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs and trade policies, while his recent executive order to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America” has sparked plenty of backlash from Canadians who say they’re living in “the dumbest timeline.”
With files from Natalia Buia.