"Canada exists thanks to the United States" Canada's prime minister incensed Trump with this speech
"We know that the old order will not return. We should not mourn it": Canada's prime minister drew a standing ovation with a speech in Davos. Find out how Mark Carney describes the brave new world that Donald Trump has brought us here.
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- "Obituary for the USA": Davos celebrated the speech by Canada's prime minister with a standing ovation yesterday.
- Mark Carney says the middle powers must recognize the new reality in which the rules-based order is disappearing.
- The major powers would use the economy as a weapon: But being subservient is not an option.
- Instead of throwing themselves at a hegemon, the middle powers should cooperate with each other.
- Carney hopes that something new and better can emerge from the break with the old order.
US President Donald Trump has rebuked Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. The USA has always been very generous with Canada, said Trump at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Despite this, Carney had not shown much gratitude during his speech in Davos the previous day.
"Canada exists thanks to the United States, remember that, Mark, the next time you speak," said Trump. The US President has repeatedly expressed his desire to incorporate Canada into the USA as another federal state.
What did Carney say that made Trump react so angrily?
It was the "most consistent speech" Mark Carney has ever given, says Canadian Senator Peter Boehm to the CBC broadcaster. Ex-diplomat Louise Blais agrees.
With the speech, which received a standing ovation, Canada had placed itself at the "center of the global middle powers", which had to "come to terms with a changing world". What happened? Did Carney really write an "obituary for the USA" for his Davos appearance, as some have categorized it?
"It seems that every day we are reminded that we live in an era of great power rivalry, that the rules-based order is fading, that the strong can do what they can and the weak must suffer what they must," Carney begins his speech.
For decades, the West had relied on a rules-based world order. But: "We knew that [this] history was partly wrong, that the strongest took advantage of themselves when it suited them, that trade rules were enforced asymmetrically. And we knew that international law was applied with varying degrees of severity depending on the identity of the accused or the victim."
Agreement with the USA "no longer works"
As a hegemon, the USA once guaranteed secure shipping routes and stable financial systems. "This arrangement no longer works. Let me be direct," says Carney. "We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition."
The reason: "The major powers have started to use economic integration as a weapon, tariffs as leverage, financial infrastructure as coercion and supply chains as vulnerabilities to be exploited."
The 60-year-old doesn't mince his words: "You can't live in the lie of mutual benefit through integration if integration becomes the source of your subordination." International institutions such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), the UN and the COP climate group are under attack, which is why many countries are increasingly striving for strategic autonomy.
The consequences: "A world of fortresses will be poorer, more fragile and less sustainable. And there is another truth. If great powers abandon even the appearance of rules and values in order to pursue their power and interests unhindered, it will become increasingly difficult to reap the benefits of transactionalism."
No "negotiating out of weakness"
The question is not whether you want to adapt to the new reality - you have to, says Carney. "Value-based realism" is what Finland's President Alexander Stubb calls this brave new world. For Canada, this means: "Let's no longer rely only on the strength of our values, but also on the value of our strength."
Canada is diversifying its international relations, the Prime Minister explains. "Different coalitions for different issues based on common values and interests" - that is what is needed now. Canada is therefore standing by Ukraine and defending Greenland's sovereignty. Economic cooperation with the EU and the Pacific region will be expanded.
«The middle powers must act together, because if we are not at the table, we are on the menu.»
In contrast to the middle powers, the great powers could afford to act alone - because of their military strength, the liberal politician continued. "But if we only negotiate bilaterally with a hegemon, we are negotiating out of weakness. We accept what we are offered. We compete with each other to see who is the most accommodating."
"We know that the old order will not return"
This does not speak in favor of sovereignty: "It's about exercising sovereignty while accepting subordination. In a world where great powers rival each other, the countries in between have a choice: compete with each other for the favor of others or join forces to create a third way with impact."
What does this mean for the middle powers? They must recognize reality, says Carney. The reality is "a system of intensifying great power rivalry in which the most powerful pursue their interests and use economic integration as coercion."
This needs to be consistently acknowledged by allies and opponents alike. We should not wait for the old world order to return. The middle powers must build a strong local economy in order not to be vulnerable to blackmail and diversify their international relations.
Carney ends with the words: "We know that the old order will not return. We should not mourn it. Nostalgia is not a strategy, but we believe that we can build something bigger, better, stronger and fairer from the break. That is the task of the middle powers."