The old order is not coming back,’ Carney says in provocative speech at Davos

Prime Minister Mark Carney delivered a frank assessment of how he views the world in a provocative speech in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday, where he said the longstanding U.S.-led, rules-based international order is over and middle powers like Canada must pivot to avoid falling prey to further “coercion” from powerful actors.

Without invoking U.S. President Donald Trump by name, Carney referenced “American hegemony” and said “great powers” are using economic integration as “weapons.”

“Canadians know that our old, comfortable assumption that our geography and alliance memberships automatically conferred prosperity and security is no longer valid,” Carney said.

As it grapples with this new dynamic, Carney said Canada must be “principled and pragmatic” and turn inward to build up the country and diversify trading relationships to become less reliant on countries like the U.S., now that it’s clear “integration” can lead to “subordination.”

arney said multilateralism and the “architecture of collective problem-solving” — relying on institutions like the World Trade Organization, the United Nations and Conference of the Parties (COP) for climate talks — has been “diminished” and countries have to accept they may have to go it alone more often than in the recent past.

“Many countries are drawing the same conclusions. They must develop greater strategic autonomy: in energy, food, critical minerals, in finance and supply chains.

“A country that cannot feed itself, fuel itself or defend itself has few options. When the rules no longer protect you, you must protect yourself,” Carney said.

Carney said this more isolationist approach, where there’s a “world of fortresses,” will make countries poorer, fragile and less sustainable. But it’s coming nonetheless and Canada must work with like-minded allies where possible to push back against domination by larger, wealthier and well-armed countries.

“This is not naive multilateralism. Nor is it relying on diminished institutions. It is building the coalitions that work, issue by issue, with partners who share enough common ground to act together. Middle powers must act together because if you are not at the table, you are on the menu,” Carney said.

Prime Minister Mark Carney told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, ‘the power of legitimacy, integrity and rules will remain strong if we choose to wield them together,’ amid mounting economic pressure from great powers — not naming U.S. President Donald Trump directly.

“We are engaging broadly, strategically, with open eyes. We actively take on the world as it is, not wait for the world as we wish it to be,” he said.

“The old order is not coming back. We should not mourn it. Nostalgia is not a strategy. But from the fracture, we can build something better, stronger and more just.”

Mentions defence spending, diversified trade

Carney said that since taking office, he has moved to change Canada’s trajectory: doubling defence spending, rapidly diversifying trade by signing 12 trade and security deals on four continents in six months and drawing even closer to the European Union.

Canada is also pursuing free trade pacts with India, Thailand, the Philippines and the countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Mercosur, the South American bloc that includes Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.

“Great powers can afford to go it alone. They have the market size, the military capacity, the leverage to dictate terms. Middle powers do not. But when we only negotiate bilaterally with a hegemon, we negotiate from weakness. We accept what is offered. We compete with each other to be the most accommodating. This is not sovereignty. It is the performance of sovereignty while accepting subordination,” Carney said.

“In a world of great power rivalry, the countries in between have a choice: to compete with each other for favour, or to combine to create a third path with impact.”

Canada a ‘stable, reliable partner’

While striking a skeptical tone about some global institutions and lamenting what he called a “rupture” to how things have long worked, Carney said he feels confident about Canada’s future despite the shifting sands.

Canada is a “stable, reliable partner” that “values relationships for the long term,” which makes it appealing to other countries, he said.

“Canada has what the world wants. We are an energy superpower. We have the most educated population in the world,” he said. “We have capital, talent and a government with the immense fiscal capacity to act decisively. And we have the values to which many others aspire.”

Speaking later at a fireside chat at the World Economic Forum, Carney acknowledged Canada is vulnerable to an increasingly assertive U.S. given geography and longstanding economic ties.