Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney welcomed several new trade deals and pledged to further diversify Ottawa’s partners, saying he “hopes” the United States will respect his country’s sovereignty.
Mr. Carney discussed the trade deal during a meeting with state and territory leaders Thursday.
Recommended stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
“Our country is more united, more ambitious and more determined than we have been in decades, and it’s incumbent upon all of us to seize this moment and build something bigger together,” Carney said, praising the 12 new economic and security agreements agreed in the past six months.
His comments come amid continued friction with the administration of US President Donald Trump, who previously pushed for Canada to become the country’s 51st state.
Mr. Carney particularly highlighted the new agreement with China to lower trade tariffs. In response to the deal, President Trump last week threatened to impose 100% tariffs on Canada.
In response to Trump’s accusation that Canada would serve as a “port of landing” for Chinese goods, Carney clarified that Ottawa is not seeking a free trade agreement with China.
But on Thursday, he nonetheless highlighted the benefits he said the deal provides for Canada’s agricultural sector.
“Part of that agreement will open up more than $7 billion in export markets to Canadian farmers, ranchers, fish harvesters and workers across Canada,” Carney said.
Carney added that Ottawa will soon seek to foster “trade relationships with global giants” including India, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the South American trade bloc Mercosur.
“And we will seek to renew our most important economic and security relationship with the United States through a joint review of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement later this year,” he said, referring to the regional free trade agreement that expires in July.
“Respect Canada’s sovereignty”
Carney’s pledge to diversify Canada’s portfolio of trade and security partners comes just eight days after he delivered a high-profile speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
In his speech, Mr. Carney warned that the “rules-based” international order was a fiction and was disappearing, giving way to an “era of great power rivalry” where strength is justice.
“We knew that the story of an international rules-based order was partially false, that the powerful would exempt themselves when it suited them, and that trade rules would be enforced asymmetrically,” Carney told the Davos audience.
“We knew that international law applies with different rigor depending on the identity of the defendant or victim.”
He ultimately called on the world’s so-called “middle powers” to come together in these unpredictable times.
The speech was widely taken as a rebuke to President Trump, who has launched an aggressive tariff campaign against global trading partners, including Canada.
In early January, Trump also abducted Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, a move that critics describe as a violation of international law.
His pledge to “execute” Venezuela was followed by a series of offensive statements against the Danish autonomous territory of Greenland, in which he threatened to occupy Greenland.
These threats shook the entire NATO alliance, which includes both the United States and Denmark.
Even before the start of his second term, President Trump has pushed for greater U.S. control over Canada, repeatedly referring to the country as a “state” and the prime minister as a “governor.”
In response to Mr. Carney’s speech at Davos, Mr. Trump withdrew Mr. Carney’s invitation to the so-called “Peace Commission.”
But Mr. Carney publicly stood by his comments and dismissed claims by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that he “aggressively” retracted his position during a private phone call with Mr. Trump.
In a separate exchange Thursday, Mr. Carney was asked about reports that U.S. officials had met with secessionists seeking independence from the oil-rich province of Alberta.
The Financial Times reported that State Department officials met three times with the Alberta Prosperity Project. The Alberta Prosperity Project is an organization pushing for a referendum on whether the energy-producing western province should secede from Canada.
“We expect the U.S. government to respect Canada’s sovereignty,” Carney responded.
“I’ve always been clear about that in my conversations with President Trump.”
