NEW YORK – Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney called for a “new partnership” with the United States to “help make America great again,” in a speech delivered in New York on May 28.
Mr Carney said that while the world is undergoing a “rupture” as the US transforms its commercial relationships, working closely with Canada in specific sectors, including aluminium, automobiles and critical minerals, will strengthen both countries.
Amid an ongoing trade war with the US, Mr Carney has vowed to double Canadian exports to other markets in the next decade and signed more than 20 economic and security deals in the last year.
After President Donald Trump’s threats to annex Canada as the 51st state, Mr Carney described Canada’s ties to the US as “weaknesses we must correct” and said the US had fundamentally changed its approach to trade, raising tariffs to levels last seen during the Great Depression.
In January, Mr Carney referred to “American hegemony” in a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, saying that greater integration with great powers created “vulnerabilities to be exploited.”
In New York, however, the prime minister adopted a more conciliatory tone, describing the US as “the most dynamic, resilient and inventive country the world has ever known.”
He said the founding values of the US, liberty, democracy, justice and openness, “should continue to serve as guides to its future and that of the world.”
Mr Carney acknowledged that while the US and Canada have had disputes over the years, the countries have always worked through them.
He said a strong Canada would “help make America great again,” and called for greater cooperation between the two countries in industries including aluminium, automobiles and critical minerals. REUTERS
