Team Trump is livid after Canada’s Carney calls out US coercion

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. OTTAWA–Canada and the Trump administration are locked in a war of words over Prime Minister Mark Carney’s bid to chart a new model for smaller powers to fight back against the U.S.’s aggressive use of its economic and military might. In the past week, Carney has resolved a trade dispute with America’s biggest strategic competitor, China, and delivered a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland urging smaller powers to unite against economic coercion from the world’s great powers.

The moves drew cheers at home and abroad as a template on how to stand up to the Trump administration’s perceived bullying, just as the president was threatening Europe with retribution if Denmark didn’t yield the Arctic island of Greenland to the U.S. But it has also incensed the Trump administration. On Wednesday, President Trump, speaking at Davos, called out Carney for his speech, saying he wasn’t grateful enough to the U.S.

“Canada lives because of the United States," Trump said. “Remember that Mark, the next time you make your statements." On Thursday, Trump said on his Truth Social platform that he had revoked Canada’s invitation to join his Board of Peace. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick accused Carney of “an arrogant kind of thought," and likened the prime minister’s speech to whining and complaining.

He also suggested the China trade deal was a road map for upending talks on a revised U.S.-Mexico-Canada free-trade pact, known as USMCA. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent brushed off Carney’s speech. “I think Prime Minister Carney should say ‘thank you’ [to the U.S.], rather than giving this value-signaling speech," Bessent told Politico in Davos.