US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth posted a photo on social media, taken from a local training branch's account, showing a young female Canadian cadet receiving an award from her instructor, to which he added a Canadian flag emoji and the caption 'this is real', an apparent attempt to disparage Canada's military. ^[1] US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth posted a photograph on X on Monday night depicting two people in uniform with a Canadian flag and the caption 'this is real', which was widely interpreted as mocking the Canadian armed forces. ^[2] Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said that any trade discussions with the US would only resume when 'the Americans stop doing memes, stop throwing shade, stop trying to be tough and start being serious about having those discussions'. ^[3] The Army Cadet League of Canada, a civilian organisation supporting the military-run cadet programme, said it strongly condemns 'any online harassment, or mockery of cadets' achievements'. ^[4] The US imposed 50% tariffs on approximately $20bn (C$28bn) of Canadian imports after bilateral trade talks broke down, and Canada plans to impose matching countermeasures the following week. ^[5] Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney called Hegseth's post 'beneath the office' of the secretary of defense and urged Washington to stop doing memes and start being serious about deescalating trade tensions. ^[6] The photograph was reproduced from an Instagram post by the Vernon Cadet Training Centre in British Columbia, which hosted a summer camp for teenagers learning adult skills on a military base. ^[7] Hegseth has previously been critical of body shapes in the US military, telling senior commanders in Virginia last year that 'fat troops are tiring to look at' and ordering officials to crack down on a lack of physical fitness. ^[8]