OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney is standing by his Davos speech, which has irked President Donald Trump and rattled Canada–U.S. trade talks.
Carney rejected the Trump administration’s claim that he “aggressively” walked back his remarks on Monday during a private conversation with the president.
“To be absolutely clear — and I said this to the president — I meant what I said in Davos. It was clear,” Carney told reporters Tuesday on Parliament Hill ahead of a Cabinet meeting.
“Canada was the first country to understand the change in U.S. trade policy that he had initiated, and we’re responding to that.”
Carney said Canada is strengthening ties overseas and investing domestically, while remaining open to reshaping its relationship with the U.S. under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
“He understood that, and it was a good conversation,” Carney said.
The Prime Minister’s Office declined to issue a readout of their conversation, as is typically done with calls between Carney and political leaders.
Carney delivered a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last week that encouraged middle powers to stand up to American “hegemony.” The speech went viral and prompted a rebuke from the Trump administration.
The president has since criticized Carney on his deal with China, threatened Canada with 100 percent tariffs and disinvited Carney from his “Board of Peace.” Trump also called Carney “governor,” a term he previously used to mock former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau when talking about making Canada a “51st state.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Canada’s prime minister should do what’s best for Canadians “rather than push his own globalist agenda.”
“I was in the Oval [Office] with the president today,” Bessent said Monday on Fox News’ “Hannity.” “He spoke to Prime Minister Carney, who was very aggressively walking back some of the unfortunate remarks he made at Davos.”
He added: “I’m not sure what the prime minister was thinking. Of course Canada depends on the U.S. There’s much more north-south trade than there could ever be east-west trade.”