Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney Defends Davos Remarks Amid Trump Criticism
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has reaffirmed his stance behind his remarks at the Davos economic forum, where he criticized “unconstrained super powers,” following a statement by a Trump official who claimed the comments were “aggressively” softened during a phone call with US President Donald Trump.
“To be absolutely clear, and I said this to the president, I meant what I said in Davos,” Carney stated on Tuesday, confirming that he and Trump had spoken by phone.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had told Fox News on Monday that Carney was “very aggressively walking back” some of his remarks to Trump. Carney’s Davos speech had sparked global headlines, as he indirectly criticized Trump for a “rupture” in the postwar world order.
“Canada lives because of the United States,” Trump remarked in his own Davos speech the following day.
Speaking to reporters in Ottawa on Tuesday, Carney denied Bessent’s account of the phone call. He noted that Trump had initiated the conversation on Monday, and the two had a “very good conversation on a wide range of subjects,” including Ukraine, Venezuela, Arctic security, and Canada’s recent trade agreement with China.
“The president understood Canada’s position,” Carney added, highlighting that their discussion also covered the USMCA, a free-trade pact set for a mandatory review later this year.
Carney emphasized that his Davos speech clearly outlined how “Canada was the first country to understand the change in US trade policy that (Trump) had initiated, and we’re responding to that.”
“In the Fox News interview on Monday, Bessent criticized Canada’s decision to negotiate a trade deal with China. He said, ‘Canada depends on the US. There’s much more north-south trade than there could ever be east-west trade.’ Bessent also claimed, ‘The prime minister should do what’s best for the Canadian people rather than try to push his globalist agenda.'”
His remarks followed Trump’s threat to impose 100% tariffs on Canadian goods if China’s products are allowed to flow freely into the US. The deal between Ottawa and Beijing would reduce tariffs on Canadian canola oil from 85% to 15% by March, while Canada would tax a limited number of Chinese electric vehicles at the most-favoured-nation rate of 6.1%—down from 100%.
“Carney said Canada is not pursuing a free-trade deal with China and has ‘never’ considered it. He added, ‘The president is a strong negotiator, and I think some of these comments and positioning should be viewed in the broader context of that.'”
