OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney is drawing cross-partisan praise in Canada and widespread international attention after using his World Economic Forum address to call on middle powers to work together against economic coercion by global superpowers.
Speaking Tuesday in Davos, Switzerland, Carney warned that the old world order is fading as major powers increasingly use tariffs, financial systems and supply chains as political weapons. He urged countries like Canada to stop assuming the past will define the future.
“In a world of great power rivalry, the countries in between have a choice: compete with each other for favour or combine to create a third path with impact,” Carney said, drawing a standing ovation.
The Prime Minister’s Office said Carney wrote the speech himself. It quickly resonated across Canada’s political spectrum. Quebec Premier François Legault said the speech reflected long-standing concerns about overreliance on the United States, while Ontario Premier Doug Ford echoed Carney’s call to diversify trade and seek new global partners.
Although Carney did not mention the United States or President Donald Trump by name, his remarks were widely seen as a response to Trump’s tariff-driven trade policies. Trump later rebuked Carney in his own Davos address, saying Canada “should be grateful” to the United States and claiming the country “lives because of” its southern neighbour.
At home, reactions were mixed within the Conservative Party. Alberta MP Michelle Rempel Garner said the speech must be followed by concrete action, while former foreign affairs minister Peter MacKay warned that reducing dependence on the U.S. should not mean deeper reliance on China. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has not publicly commented.
Interim NDP leader Don Davies called Carney’s message overdue but said it was undermined by Ottawa’s interest in joining Trump’s proposed “Golden Dome” missile defence system and by dropping the digital services tax.
International analysts also weighed in. Economist George Magnus described the speech as a “cometh the hour” moment for audiences outside the U.S. and China, though he criticized Carney for condemning U.S. behaviour more harshly than China’s.
The address received broad global coverage, including by the BBC, The Guardian, El País, Der Spiegel and Al Jazeera, as well as major U.S. outlets such as The New York Times, which published the speech in full.