Mark Carney revives tough talk about America and warns 'a new imperialism threatens'

The sharper rhetoric comes at a time when the prime minister and his officials are scrambling to strike a new “economic and security” agreement with President Donald Trump before next week’s G7 leaders’ summit. Canada’s stated goal is to get Trump to lift tariffs the U.S. president levied on Canada and other global trading partners, even as Washington also demands NATO allies cough up billions more for military budgets.

A Canadian government official told the Star Monday that it is “difficult to say whether or not we’ll get to a deal before the G7” with not much having changed since the most recent meetings in Washington last week.

In fact, last week, Trump doubled down on tariffs, hiking surcharges on Canadian and other steel and aluminum imports to 50 per cent.

Carney opted not to increase Canada’s level of counter-tariffs in response, but on Monday he did amp up his political rhetoric several notches. Carney justified Ottawa’s accelerated military spending as he outlined a “darker, more competitive world” and an “age of disorder” that he said requires Canada to better defend this country and diversify its security and economic partners.

After the Second World War, Carney said, Canada grew more distant from Britain and aligned itself more closely with the U.S., a rapprochement that intensified after the fall of the Soviet Union established the U.S. as the leading world power.

“Its gravitational pull on Canada, always strong, became virtually irresistible and made the U.S. our closest ally and dominant trading partner,” said Carney. “But now the United States is beginning to monetize its hegemony: charging for access to its markets and reducing its relative contribution to our collective security.”

At the same time, Carney said, global “trade routes, allegiances, energy systems, and even intelligence itself are being rewired.”

“Rising great powers are now in strategic competition with America.  A new imperialism threatens,” he said, adding at other points in the speech that threats from Russia, China, non-state actors and terrorist organizations are on the rise.

“Middle powers compete for interests and attention, knowing that if they are not at the table, they’re on the menu.”

Carney will host the leaders of the largest western democratic economies, the so-called Group of Seven, next week in Kananaskis, Alta. Trump has said he’ll attend.

Carney has also invited a range of “middle powers” too. Leaders of Ukraine, India, Brazil, South Africa, and Australia are coming. Newly-elected South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, have confirmed in the last two days they will attend. 

The Star has learned Carney has also invited Saudi Arabia Crown prince and prime minister, Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of the Saudi kingdom once tied to the order to kill a journalist, whom Trump met last month. The Saudi prince has not formally yet responded to the invitation, an official confirmed to the Star.

Canada is focusing discussions at the summit on global economic and energy security among other concerns, as it looks ahead to the NATO summit at the end of June.

On Monday, Carney said his sharp increase in military spending in one year — which he once said would take five years to achieve — is needed to protect Canada’s security needs, not a move to meet Trump’s demands.

Yet it was clear the U.S. is a big factor in Carney’s decision.

The prime minister, who campaigned on criticism of Trump as someone who wanted to “break us to own us” and often used to describe the integrated Canada-U.S. relationship as “over,” had dropped that talk in the weeks since he won.

When Carney met Trump in Washington, he flattered the president as a “transformational” leader, and appealed to him to see the mutual benefit of renewed ties, saying Canada is the “largest client” of the U.S.

However, the talks to renew a more integrated relationship do not seem to be headed where Carney wants.

Trump’s ambassador to Canada, Pete Hoekstra, told the Toronto Star last week any new “framework” nevertheless almost certainly still includes tariffs. “This is discussing the level of tariffs, how broad they apply and these kinds of things,” Hoekstra said, “not getting to zero” tariffs. 

Roy Norton, a former Canadian diplomat who spent years in the U.S. and is now a professor at the University of Waterloo, said in an interview the prime minister’s comments Monday reflect that “Carney understands how all this is evolving. He understands that Trump is not going to change, that we do have to act dramatically, seriously, to strengthen our position globally, that the dependence is unhealthy in the current context, as in, Trump is not going to give us a break.”

“We’ve heard from the U.S. ambassador that we’re just supposed to arrive at a deal, but some measure of tariffs will remain. So they breached the existing deal that he (Trump) signed and instituted tariffs that we consider to be illegal. And we’re supposed to make concessions to arrive effectively at a new deal, with no indication that there’s any reciprocality in terms of willingness on their part to negotiate any of our concerns and accommodate us. And most importantly,” Norton added, “no indication that there will be a pledge to not do this again.”

On Monday, Hoekstra welcomed Carney’s decision to increase its military spending but he disputed Carney’s characterization, telling CBC the U.S. is “not squeezing” its trading partners, adding, “we’ll get past this.”

“We will have an agreement with the Canadians. You know that the timing and the, you know, and the content of when that agreement will be reached, you know, that’s between the president and your prime minister,” he told Power and Politics host David Cochrane.

Carney had earlier acknowledged that because Canada buys so much military materiel from U.S. defence manufacturers that any increase in spending will benefit them and continue the cross-border relationship.

“First and foremost, we’re doing this for us. Relatedly, we’re doing it as a strong NATO partner,” said Carney. “And of course, the United States is a fundamental ally of the country, so I think it’s very complementary to the process of developing that new economic and security partnership with the Americans.”

However, he also said looking to others, like Europe, is “just smart. It’s better to be diversified. It’s better to have options. It’s better to have different supply chains and broader partners.”