Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney insists he meant every word he said in Davos, Switzerland.
Renaud Philippe/Bloomberg via Getty Images
- Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney denied he had retracted comments that irritated US President Donald Trump.
- Carney said he told Trump that Canada was responding to the US tariffs.
- US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent claimed Carney “was very aggressively walking back” some of the Davos remarks.
In a sign of continuing US-Canada tensions, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday denied he had retracted comments that irritated US President Donald Trump, and said almost nothing was normal in the United States.
Carney, citing US trade policy, last week made a speech in Davos, Switzerland, in which he urged nations to accept the end of the rules-based global order that Washington had once championed.
AFP reported that the speech – which also cautioned middle powers against hoping “compliance” would spare them from major power aggression – also earned rare cross‑party praise in Canada.
Opposition leader and Conservative Party head Pierre Poilievre, normally a relentless partisan brawler, has called it “well-crafted and eloquently delivered”.
According to Reuters, Carney – citing US tariffs on key Canadian imports – is pushing to diversify trade away from the United States, which takes around 70% of all Canadian exports under terms of the US-Mexico-Canada free trade deal.
READ | ‘We’re on the menu’: Canada PM Carney urges countries to unite amid global rules ‘rupture’
“The world has changed, Washington has changed. There is almost nothing normal now in the United States – that is the truth,” Carney told the House of Commons elected chamber when asked about the future of trade talks with Washington.
Trump reacted unhappily to Carney’s Davos speech, saying Canada only existed because of the United States, and later said he would impose a 100% tariff on imports from Canada if Ottawa concluded a trade deal with China.
Elie Wiesel warned that, “to forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time.” Canada will remember – so that “Never Again” is always true. pic.twitter.com/dFX6NhvKOc
— Mark Carney (@MarkJCarney) January 27, 2026
After Trump and Carney spoke on Monday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Canadian leader “was very aggressively walking back” some of the remarks.
“To be absolutely clear, and I said this to the president – I meant what I said in Davos,” Carney told reporters.
The leader of the separatist Bloc Quebecois, Yves‑Francois Blanchet, said Carney’s Davos speech was “reassuring and promising”, according to AFP.
But as parliament began a new legislative session on Tuesday, Blanchet took aim at Carney over his management of the US relationship.
“A speech, in itself, doesn’t make money, it doesn’t create jobs and it doesn’t protect jobs,” the Bloc leader said.
Good to meet with Premier Main in Ottawa today.
Arctic security is a key priority for both our governments. Looking forward to working together to build a stronger economy and safer communities for the people of Nunavut. pic.twitter.com/EFxHncmEwC
— Mark Carney (@MarkJCarney) January 28, 2026
Carney said he told Trump that Canada was responding to the tariffs by “building partnerships abroad … (and) building at home, and we’re prepared to respond positively by building that new relationship through the USMCA. He understood that.”
Carney told the House that a formal review of the USMCA pact scheduled for this year would start in a few weeks. He did not give more details.
Earlier this month, Trump said the United States did not need the USMCA, calling it irrelevant.
