TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday he told U.S. President Donald Trump he meant what he said in his Davos speech and told him Canada plans to diversify away from the United States through more than a dozen new trade deals.
Carney rolled his eyes and dismissed the idea raised by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Fox News that he actively walked back his remarks at the World Economic Forum during a call with Trump on Monday.
“To be absolutely clear, the words I said to the president are the words I said in Davos,” Carney told reporters as he arrived for a cabinet meeting in the capital, Ottawa.
“Canada was the first country to learn about the changes in U.S. trade policy he initiated, and we are responding to them.”
At the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, Carney denounced the economic coercion of smaller countries by big powers but did not mention Trump by name. The prime minister’s remarks were widely praised and watched, upstaging Trump at the gathering.
tariff and trade agreement
Trump threatened over the weekend to impose 100% tariffs on imports from Canada if the U.S.’s northern neighbor goes ahead with a trade deal with Beijing, although Carney said Canada has no interest in negotiating a comprehensive trade deal with Beijing.
Carney said Trump called him.
“I explained to him our arrangements with China. I explained to him what we were doing – 12 new agreements on four continents in six months,” Carney said. “He was impressed.”
Trump’s threats come as he and Carney escalate their war of words. The Republican president’s push to acquire Greenland has strained the NATO alliance and alarmed Canada, which shares a 3,000-kilometer (1,864-mile) maritime border with Greenland in the Arctic. Trump has also previously talked about making Canada the 51st state.
Carney said his latest deal with China simply reduced tariffs recently imposed on several industries. The prime minister plans to travel to India, Australia and other countries in an effort to diversify trade away from dependence on the United States, which accounts for more than 75 per cent of Canada’s exports.
The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement is up for renewal this year. Carney has set a goal for Canada to double its non-U.S. exports over the next decade.
at the table or on the menu
Carney has become the spokesman for a movement to unite countries against Trump’s America. “The middle powers have to act together because if you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu,” Carney said during Trump’s appearance at the Davos forum.
Carney said he also spoke with Trump on the phone about Ukraine, Venezuela and Arctic security.
Bessent said Carney spoke with Trump on Monday. The Treasury secretary told Fox News that Carney “has been very aggressive in walking back some of the unfortunate comments he made in Davos.”
“Of course, Canada is dependent on the United States,” Bessant said. “There’s a lot more north-south trade than east-west trade.”
Bessant said Canada has ties to the United States and Carney should stop trying to “advance his own globalist agenda.”
Dominic LeBlanc, Canada’s minister responsible for trade with the United States, compared Canada’s recent trade deal with China to the one Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping struck in South Korea last summer, in which the United States cut some tariffs on China and Beijing moved to allow rare earth exports and lift a moratorium on purchases of U.S. soybeans.
Before Trump pushed for the acquisition of Greenland, he had repeatedly criticized Canada over Greenland’s sovereignty and suggested annexing Greenland to the United States. Last week, he posted an altered image on social media showing a map of the United States with Canada, Venezuela, Greenland and Cuba as part of its territory.
