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Opinion | Canada’s Carney charts a ‘third path’ for middle powers
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has offered a principled and pragmatic agenda for nations navigating a new era of great power rivalry
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Historians may mark January 20, 2026, as a landmark moment. That day, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, during his speech at Davos, declared the terminal decay of the US-led international order and charted a principled, pragmatic path for middle powers caught in the crossfire of great power rivalry.
The significance lies in the fact that this bold critique came from Canada – a nation deeply intertwined with the United States through an alliance, as well as proximity and economic ties.
US President Donald Trump’s reversal from initial praise of Carney’s Beijing visit to swift retaliation, including threats of 100 per cent tariffs if Canada makes a deal with China and the withdrawal of an invitation to his “Board of Peace”, only underscores the very hegemony Carney diagnosed. Trump’s reaction, widely seen as pique over being upstaged at Davos, validates Carney’s central argument: the US, under Trump, behaves not as an ally but as a bully.
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While his Beijing visit marked a diplomatic “Pierre Trudeau moment” in resetting Canada-China relations, it was the Davos address that truly elevated Carney to the stature of a statesman, offering a vision transcending the short-term political calculus that paralyses Western capitals.
Carney’s Beijing visit was a masterclass in diplomatic pragmatism. He negotiated a framework on energy cooperation and rolled back Canada’s 100 per cent tariff on Chinese electric vehicles – a move reflecting realism, not capitulation.
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This recalibration was driven by Canada’s strategic vulnerability due to over-reliance on the US, underscored by Trump’s predatory tariffs and annexation rhetoric. By thawing a frozen relationship, the visit showed Carney’s commitment to engaging with the world as it is, not as one might wish it to be.
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