--- title: Republican Debate: Obama Cracks A Joke At Ted Cruz's Expense description: The President poked fun at Cruz's Canadian birth during a toast in honor of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. canonical: https://time.com/4255070/obama-white-house-ted-cruz-gop-trudeau/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-11T03:13:46.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:24.272Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Obama Jokes About Ted Cruz's Canadian Heritage og:description: At a state dinner with Justin Trudeau og:url: https://time.com/4255070/obama-white-house-ted-cruz-gop-trudeau/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt093c40d748a0e68c/69888a998e06019ea3464fce/obama_canada.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3428 og:image:height: 1928 og:image:alt: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visits the USA - White House State Dinner Reception og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Obama Jokes About Ted Cruz's Canadian Heritage twitter:description: At a state dinner with Justin Trudeau twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt093c40d748a0e68c/69888a998e06019ea3464fce/obama_canada.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Obama Jokes About Ted Cruz's Canadian Heritage > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Mar 11, 2016 3:13 AM UTC  President Barack Obama, left, and Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau exchange toasts during a state dinner at the White House, in Washington, DC, March 10, 2016. President Barack Obama, left, and Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau exchange toasts during a state dinner at the White House, in Washington, DC, March 10, 2016. Olivier Douliery—Pool/EPA by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Mar 11, 2016 3:13 AM UTC While many were waiting for the [Republican presidential debate](http://time.com/4254993/republican-debate-miami-florida-twelfth-donald-trump-ted-cruz/?3&xid=homepage) to start Thursday, President Obama took the opportunity to jab at Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Obama was entertaining Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during [a state dinner at the White House](http://time.com/4253927/justin-trudeau-canada-prime-minister-white-house-visit/) when he made a remark about Cruz having been born in Canada, according to the White House pool report. “Where else could a boy born in Calgary run for president of the United States?” he said during a toast moments before the CNN debate started. Questions about [Cruz’s citizenship](http://time.com/4169941/ted-cruz-citizenship-donald-trump-josh-earnest/) have [come up repeatedly](http://time.com/4220213/donald-trump-ted-cruz-legal-standing-citizenship-suit/) [on the campaign trail](http://time.com/4172788/ted-cruz-donald-trump-birther/), as he was born in Canada to an American mother and later moved to the U.S. when he was four. Trudeau is in town for an [official state visit](http://time.com/4251661/justin-trudeau-canada-obama-washington/)—the first by a Canadian Prime Minister in two decades. Cruz wasn’t the only famous Canadian that took a hit during the evening, Obama knocked Justin Bieber, saying that Trudeau may be “the most popular Canadian name Justin.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4255070/obama-white-house-ted-cruz-gop-trudeau/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4255070/obama-white-house-ted-cruz-gop-trudeau/"},"headline":"President Obama Jokes About Ted Cruz's Canadian Heritage","datePublished":"2016-03-11T03:13:46.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:24.272Z","description":"At a state dinner with Justin Trudeau","url":"https://time.com/4255070/obama-white-house-ted-cruz-gop-trudeau/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election","Barack Obama","White House","Justin Bieber","Canada","ted cruz","Debates","Justin Trudeau"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt093c40d748a0e68c/69888a998e06019ea3464fce/obama_canada.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-white/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt093c40d748a0e68c/69888a998e06019ea3464fce/obama_canada.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visits the USA - White House State Dinner Reception","caption":"Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visits the USA - White House State Dinner Reception","creditText":"Olivier Douliery—Pool/EPA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4255070/obama-white-house-ted-cruz-gop-trudeau/","name":"President Obama Jokes About Ted Cruz's Canadian Heritage"}}]}] ```