Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday he told U.S. President Donald Trump personally that he meant what he said in his speech at the World Economic Forum last week.
Carney said he told the president in a call Monday that Canada was the first country to "understand" the change in U.S. trade policy and is now adjusting to that.
"I meant what I said in Davos. It was clear it was a broader set of issues that 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 on his way into the weekly cabinet meeting.
"We are prepared to respond positively by building that new relationship through CUSMA. He understood that and it was a good conversation."
During his speech in Davos, Switzerland, Carney called on middle powers to band together as "great powers" attempt to expand their influence through economic coercion.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News on Monday he was in the room during the call and said Carney was "aggressively walking back" his comments at Davos.
"Of course, Canada depends on the U.S.," he said. "There's much more north-south trade than there could ever be east-west trade."
Bessent said Canada is linked to the U.S. and that Carney should stop trying to "push his own globalist agenda."
The prime minister told reporters he explained to Trump Canada's recent tariff deal with China and the country's broader strategy to diversify trade.
"I explained to him our arrangement with China. I explained what we're doing — 12 new deals on four continents in six months, he was impressed, and what we intend to do going forward," Carney said.
Trump threatened last week to impose 100 per cent tariffs on all Canadian imports if Canada strikes a trade deal with China.
Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said Monday he spoke with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and told him that Canada is not pursuing a free trade deal with China.
LeBlanc said the agreement with China is meant to resolve specific tariff issues, similar to action taken by the U.S. government last year on soybeans.
Carney said the call with Trump was also about the review of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement on free trade, or CUSMA, which is to begin in earnest this year.
The prime minister said he also spoke to Trump about the situations in Ukraine and Venezuela, and about Arctic security, but did not share details on how those talks went.
Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
