DAVOS, SWITZERLAND — Prime Minister Mark Carney asserted that Canada “stands firmly” with Greenland, telling attendees at the World Economic Forum on Tuesday that Canada “strongly opposes tariffs over Greenland.”
His comments come just days after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would slap a 10 per cent tariff on several European countries after they sent troops to Greenland, the Danish autonomous territory that Trump has repeatedly insisted he “needs” for national security purposes.
While Carney sent a clear message in making reference to economic coercion and tariffs being used as leverage throughout his speech, he did not call out the United States or the American president by name.
Trump himself is set to arrive at the Swiss ski town to attend the forum on Wednesday.
In a post to Truth Social on Tuesday, the president wrote that he’s agreed to a meeting with “the various parties” regarding Greenland while in Davos.
“As I expressed to everyone, very plainly, Greenland is imperative for National and World Security,” he wrote. “There can be no going back — On that, everyone agrees!”
“The United States of America is the most powerful Country anywhere on the Globe, by far,” he also wrote, adding that peace can only be achieved “through strength.”
On Tuesday afternoon, speaking to reporters at the White House on the first anniversary of his inauguration, Trump criticized NATO members for failing to spend their fair share on defence until he forced them too.
He also, however, reiterated U.S. support for the alliance, seemingly referencing Article 5, which states that an attack on one member is an attack on all.
“The big fear I have with NATO is we spend tremendous amounts of money with NATO, and I know we’ll come to their rescue, but I just really do question whether or not they’ll come to ours,” he said.
But, asked how far he’s willing to go to acquire Greenland, he said: “You’ll find out.”
A meeting between Trump and Carney is not on the books, at least so far.
Old world order is over: Carney
Also in his speech, Carney charted a new path forward for Canada, one in which the old world order — the rules-based international order — is not coming back.
“Let me be direct: We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition,” Carney said in a speech at Davos, Switzerland, Tuesday.
“More recently, great powers have begun using economic integration as weapons,” he added. “Tariffs as leverage. Financial infrastructure as coercion. Supply chains as vulnerabilities to be exploited.”
The 17-minute keynote address was Carney’s first to the World Economic Forum since becoming prime minister. He framed the current moment as a break in the old world order, and as a test for middle powers like Canada.
His speech, to a room packed with politicians, media and business leaders, underscored an evolution of how states should navigate the economic and political challenges facing them in the 21st century.
“In a world of great power rivalry, the countries in between have a choice: to compete with each other for favour, or to combine to create a third path with impact,” Carney said.
Carney urged middle powers to work together to uphold or create a new world order based on shared values. Diversification, he argued, is the foundation for honest policy that gives countries strength and a hedge against coercion.
“Allies will diversify to hedge against uncertainty,” Carney said. “They’ll buy insurance, increase options, in order to rebuild sovereignty — sovereignty which was once grounded in rules — but will be increasingly anchored in the ability to withstand pressure.”
“If great powers abandon even the pretense of rules and values for the unhindered pursuit of their power and interests, the gains from transnationalism become harder to replicate,” he also said. “Hegemons cannot continually monetize their relationships.”
In a question-and-answer period following his address, Carney said Canada is “not going to sit around and mourn” the old world order, but rather is moving forward and “building systems” in which it is less reliant on a small number of global superpowers.
Carney responds to China trip criticisms
Carney’s attendance at Davos wraps up a 10-day global trip, in which the prime minister went to China for a high-stakes meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, as well as a several-day stop in Qatar and meeting with the Amir, His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
In a bid to reset relations with China after years of acrimony — and counter trade threats from the United States — Carney became the first Canadian prime minister to travel to the Asian country in eight years.
The prime minister has faced criticism for the trip, however, including for inking a quid-pro-quo deal with China to reduce tariffs on the other’s products, which Ontario Premier Doug Ford says will be “terrible” for Canada’s auto industry.
Former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig, who was detained by China for more than 1,000 days between 2018 and 2021, also said Carney’s tone and messaging during his trip to China were “worrisome.”
During the English-language leaders’ debate ahead of last April’s federal election, Carney pointed to China as the biggest security threat facing Canada.
Speaking to reporters in Beijing on Friday, when asked whether he still believes that to be true, Carney answered that “the security landscape continues to change.”
Asked about the meeting — and the categorization by some that it was a mistake — during the question-and-answer period following his address in Davos on Tuesday, Carney said it was about “building out.”
“It’s something positive as opposed to against,” he said. “We’re for something as opposed to being against.”
“The second is there are very clear guardrails in that relationship,” he added. “But within those clear guardrails are huge opportunities in energy, both clean and conventional, obviously, in motor vehicles, in agriculture, in financial services, all of which is mutually beneficial.”
