Trump fires back at Carney in Davos, says Canada should be grateful

U.S. President Donald Trump warned Mark Carney that “Canada lives because of the United States,” calling out the Prime Minister by name in a speech to the World Economic Forum a day after the Canadian leader told the same body that the Washington-led rules-based international order is over.

Speaking in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, Mr. Trump also demanded “immediate negotiations” on the U.S. annexation of Greenland – against the wishes of the semi-autonomous Danish territory’s inhabitants – mere hours before abruptly dropping his threat to hit European countries with additional tariffs over their opposition to his plans for the Arctic island.

The President said one reason he wants Greenland is to build his proposed Golden Dome missile defence system, which he said is “going to be defending Canada,” before lacing into Mr. Carney.

“Canada gets a lot of freebies from us, by the way. They should be grateful, also, but they’re not. I watched your Prime Minister yesterday. He wasn’t so grateful,” Mr. Trump told the packed hall. “Canada lives because of the United States. Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements.”

Carney stands with Greenland, criticizes Trump without naming him in blunt Davos speech

In a speech at Davos on Tuesday that quickly went viral, Mr. Carney said the world is “in the midst of a rupture, not a transition” away from the previous international order and toward a global system of economic “coercion” by major powers.

Mr. Carney said Canada and other countries must fight back together against such attempts at “subordination,” including by standing up to ostensible allies who try to bully them.

While he did not name Mr. Trump, the context of the Prime Minister’s comments was clear. The President has imposed tariffs on most countries around the world and threatened more to force European nations to let him take Greenland. Most countries, however, have followed a policy of appeasing Mr. Trump, refused to retaliate against his trade war, and agreed to lopsided trade deals favouring the U.S.

“Middle powers must act together because, if we’re not at the table, we’re on the menu,” Mr. Carney warned.

The Prime Minister’s message was particularly stark coming from what was historically the United States’ closest ally, and it follows months of Mr. Carney trying unsuccessfully to reach a deal with Mr. Trump to get tariffs lifted.

While Mr. Carney has pushed back to Mr. Trump’s face on the latter’s “51^st state” threats to annex Canada, the pair have previously had a chummy rapport in person and Mr. Carney has made concessions to Mr. Trump by rolling back retaliatory tariffs and scrapping a planned digital services tax.

Mr. Carney left Davos on Wednesday morning around the same time Mr. Trump arrived without the two meeting. International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu told reporters that Mr. Carney is focused on landing agreements with other countries to diversify Canada’s economy away from the U.S.

Mr. Trump’s expansionist ideation set off alarms in the NATO alliance, which both the U.S. and Denmark are a part of, raising fears that an American invasion would end the military pact that underpins Western security.

But on Wednesday evening Davos time, Mr. Trump announced on Truth Social that he had reached a “framework” for an agreement on Greenland at a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. Neither he nor Mr. Rutte said what the specific terms are.

“We have formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic Region. This solution, if consummated, will be a great one for the United States of America, and all NATO Nations,” the President wrote. “Based upon this understanding, I will not be imposing the Tariffs that were scheduled to go into effect on February 1st.”

He said further talks are planned for how Greenland fits with the Golden Dome, with Vice-President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff leading these efforts. He did not say with whom the talks are planned.

In a subsequent exchange with reporters, Mr. Trump did not reveal any details about what was agreed to. He said the framework “gives us everything we needed” and is “the ultimate long-term deal. It is an infinite deal.”

In his Wednesday speech, Mr. Trump framed his quest to take over Greenland, which he sometimes erroneously called “Iceland,” as part of his “Donroe Doctrine” of U.S. hegemony in the Americas.

“This enormous, unsecured island is actually closer to North America, on the northern frontier of the Western Hemisphere. That’s our territory,” he said.

Trump says ‘you’ll find out’ when asked about his ambition to annex Greenland

For the first time, however, he said he would not use military force to seize the territory.

“We probably won’t get anything unless I decide to use excessive strength and force, where we would be, frankly, unstoppable. But I won’t do that, okay? Now everyone’s saying ‘Oh, good,’” the President said.

“That’s probably the biggest statement I made, because people thought I would use force. I don’t have to use force, I don’t want to use force, I won’t use force.”

The President said the U.S. should have seized the territory after the Second World War, during which the U.S. sent troops there. “How stupid were we?” he said. He referred to the island, which has a population of 57,000, as a “piece of ice” that is “almost entirely uninhabited.”

The U.S. already has a military base on Greenland and, under the terms of a 1951 treaty with Denmark, it can build more military facilities and send more troops. But Mr. Trump said on Wednesday this was not enough and it would be “psychologically” better for the U.S. to own the place.

He has previously suggested he wants control of Greenland because he is upset at not winning last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, and as compensation for the U.S. spending more on NATO than other countries.

If the U.S. did not get control of Greenland, he told the hall at Davos, “we will remember.”

With a report from Steven Chase