Bill Clinton has had enough of how Washington is treating Canada.
“I’m tired of treating our allies like they’re dirt,” the former U.S. president told a crowd in Hollywood, Florida, on Tuesday night.
Then he talked about Prime Minister Mark Carney.
“The prime minister of Canada has been a friend of mine for a long time,” Clinton said. “We got to know each other having virtually nothing to do with politics.”
“He’s about the most well-qualified leader in the world. He’s been head of the bank at both the U.K. and Canada.”
“And we have the gall to suggest that they should become the 51st state?”
Where he said it
Clinton was speaking at a church event in Hollywood, north of Miami, while campaigning for David Jolly, the Democratic nominee for governor of Florida. The U.S. midterm elections are Nov. 3.
He didn’t name Donald Trump. He didn’t need to.
One day after Trump’s hockey offer
Clinton spoke the night after Trump told a rally in Park City, Kansas, that Canada could keep ice hockey and O Canada if it became the 51st state.
“I will let you keep ice hockey, and I will let you keep your O Canada national anthem,” Trump said on Monday. Then: “No, we’re only kidding. But they have been screwing us, really.” Read what Trump said in Kansas, and the U.S. lawsuit filed against his tariffs the next day.
Five days before that, at a rally in Bullhead City, Arizona, Trump said Canada would “end up being the 51st state because it’s the only way it works.” Read what Trump said in Arizona.
Trump has also called Carney a “governor.”
Why Clinton pointed to the banks
Clinton built his case on Carney’s résumé.
Carney was governor of the Bank of Canada from 2008 to 2013, steering the country through the global financial crisis. He then ran the Bank of England from 2013 to 2020, becoming the first non-Briton to lead it in more than 300 years.
Before that, he worked at Goldman Sachs. He joined the Bank of Canada as deputy governor in 2003.
Clinton didn’t say how the two became friends. Only that it had “virtually nothing to do with politics.”
The president who signed NAFTA
Clinton has his own history with Canadian trade.
He signed the law that put NAFTA in place in December 1993. The deal took effect in January 1994 and joined Canada, the U.S. and Mexico in one of the world’s biggest free trade zones.
It lasted more than two decades. Trump replaced it with CUSMA during his first term.
More than 30 years after NAFTA, the two countries are in a trade war.
A relationship under strain
Trump has put 50% tariffs on a range of Canadian goods since talks broke down in August, and banned other Canadian products in September. Steel and auto plants have been hit hardest.
Trump has said Canada is “being taught a little lesson.” Americans’ views have shifted too. An AP-NORC poll last month found just 26% of Americans now call Canada a close ally, down from 62% in 2023. Read more about the poll and Trump’s “little lesson” comment.
Carney and Ford’s $8.7 billion plan
The day after Clinton spoke, Carney and Ontario Premier Doug Ford met on Parliament Hill and announced $8.7 billion to help industries hit by the trade war.
The plan includes:
$5.22 billion for steel: a joint federal-provincial fund to help steelmakers modernize, find new markets and strengthen Canadian supply chains
$2.5 billion for autos: over two years, to help manufacturers upgrade equipment and production lines
Up to $1 billion from Ottawa for the Ring of Fire: matching Ontario’s $1 billion for roads into the mineral-rich region in northern Ontario
The two governments also announced measures on steel imports, buying Canadian and auto rules.
Ford called the plan “transformative.”
What’s next
Carney hasn’t publicly responded to Clinton’s comments.
With the midterms less than two weeks away, Canada keeps coming up in American politics. This time, it was a former president standing up for it.
Sources
Bill Clinton remarks in Hollywood, Florida, Oct. 20, 2026 (video)
Prime Minister of Canada, “Prime Minister Carney and Premier Ford launch new action plan to protect workers from tariffs and strengthen Ontario industries,” Oct. 21, 2026: https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/prime-minister-carney-and-premier-ford-launch-new-action-plan-to-protect-workers-from-tariffs-and-strengthen-ontario-industries-841197687.html
Ontario Newsroom, backgrounder, Oct. 21, 2026: https://news.ontario.ca/en/backgrounder/1008172/premier-ford-and-prime-minister-carney-launch-new-action-plan-to-protect-workers-from-tariffs-and-strengthen-ontario-industries
Roll Call Factba.se, Trump rally transcript, Park City, Kansas, Oct. 19, 2026: https://rollcall.com/factbase/trump/transcript/donald-trump-speech-midterm-political-rally-park-city-kansas-october-19-2026
Comments
Conversation