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Carney hits back at Trump comments, says ‘Canada doesn’t live because of US’
In Davos, Donald Trump had said, “Canada lives because of the United States.” Trump also took to social media to disinvite Canada from the so-called Board of Peace, aimed at reconstruction of Gaza
Toronto: The war of words between Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and United States President Donald Trump continued on Thursday, as the former pointedly said that his country “doesn’t live because of America”.
Carney’s remarks, added to the speech, as per Canadian media, came before Trump took to social media to disinvite Canada from the so-called Board of Peace, aimed at reconstruction of Gaza.
In a speech, prior to a Cabinet retreat in Quebec City, Carney said, “Canada and the United States have built a remarkable partnership. In the economy, in security and in rich cultural exchange. But Canada doesn’t live because of the United States.”
“Canada thrives because we are Canadian,” the Canadian PM stressed.
Carney’s remarks came after Trump’s sharp reaction to the Canadian PM’s speech at the World Economic Forum gathering at Davos earlier this week. “I watched your Prime Minister yesterday. He wasn’t so grateful — they should be grateful to the US, Canada. Canada lives because of the United States,” Trump said on Wednesday, also at Davos. However, Carney left the resort in Switzerland before Trump arrived.
“Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements,” Trump added.
Carney’s speech at Davos was praised globally for calling out American hegemony. Carney addressed the “rupture in the world order, the end of a nice story” which marked “the beginning of a brutal reality where geopolitics among the great powers is not subject to any constraints.”
He stressed that middle powers were not powerless but had the “capacity to build a new order” embodying their values.
Carney said it was known “the story of the international rules-based order was partially false” with the strongest exempting themselves “when convenient” with trade rules “enforced asymmetrically”.
“And that international law applied with varying rigour depending on the identity of the accused or the victim,” he said.
“This fiction was useful, and American hegemony, in particular, helped provide public goods: open sea lanes, a stable financial system, collective security, and support for frameworks for resolving disputes,” he said.
That bargain, he noted, no longer worked, adding, “Canadians know that our old, comfortable assumption that our geography and alliance memberships automatically conferred prosperity and security is no longer valid.”
The “new approach”, he said, rested on what Finnish President Alexander Stubb has termed “values-based realism” or as Carney put it, “principled and pragmatic”.
Ottawa is practising pragmatism in “recognising that progress is often incremental, that interests diverge, that not every partner shares our values” and “engaging broadly, strategically, with open eyes.”
“We actively take on the world as it is, not wait for a world we wish to be,” he said, adding that Canada was “calibrating” its relationships so their depth reflects its values.
“We are rapidly diversifying abroad,” he said. In that context, he stated, “We are negotiating free trade pacts with India, ASEAN, Thailand, Philippines, Mercosur.”
He said that to address global problems, Canada was pursuing “variable geometry”, or “different coalitions for different issues, based on common values and interests.”
“The old order is not coming back. We should not mourn it. Nostalgia is not a strategy. But from the fracture, we can build something better, stronger, and more just,” he concluded.
