The world has entered a risky new age of great power rivalries and middle powers need to join forces to survive, Prime Minister Mark Carney told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland Tuesday.
As President Donald Trump prepares to bring his case for U.S. control of Greenland to the elite annual international forum on Wednesday, the prime minister warned leaders assembled there that they are not safe if they give into coercion and economic threats.
"Great powers have begun using economic integration as weapons, tariffs as leverage, financial infrastructure as coercion, supply chains as vulnerabilities to be exploited," Carney said in his speech.
"You cannot live within the lie of mutual benefit through integration when integration becomes the source of your subordination.”
The prime minister said countries like Canada prospered under the former rules-based international order — but the “old order is not coming back.”
“Middle powers must act together because if you are not at the table, you are on the menu,” he said, bringing a familiar talking point from last year’s election campaign to a global audience.
Throughout the day in Davos, world leaders called out the United States over its threats to take over Greenland.
French President Emmanuel Macron called the situation “crazy,” while Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever warned that America is not behaving like an ally.
Carney met with Macron on Tuesday. A readout from the Prime Minister's Office said the two "reaffirmed their mutual commitment" to Denmark's sovereignty, including Greenland.
Markets also sputtered on fears that a trade war is looming between the U.S. and the EU over the territory.
Carney told the Davos crowd the past year has shown the world is moving toward a system of economic coercion, with great powers pursuing their own interests above all else.
The prime minister said middle powers like Canada must adapt to this new reality — which why Canada is looking to expand non-U.S. trade through deals such as those signed recently with China and Qatar.
Carney has been criticized for not speaking out more forcefully on human rights while meeting with dictators as he seeks to attract new investment from abroad.
Less than a year ago, Carney publicly identified China as the greatest threat to Canadian national security.
In his Davos speech, the prime minister talked about how Canada is focusing on broad international engagement to "maximize" its influence on a turbulent world stage.
"We actively take on the world as it is, not wait around for a world we wish to be," Carney said.
Carney said Canada was among the first to hear the "wake-up call" of the new great-power era — a reference to the U.S. imposing tariffs last year and threatening to make Canada the 51st state.
Trump, who is attending the World Economic Forum along with a core cadre of cabinet members and White House advisers, is scheduled to address the forum on Wednesday.
World leaders can walk around the town freely and may even bump into each other by chance, but it’s not clear if Trump and Carney will cross paths at all.
Carney is scheduled to leave for home late Wednesday. The Prime Minister’s Office said there is currently no meeting scheduled between Carney and Trump, though that could change.
The office does not routinely disclose when the two leaders communicate.
Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
