Carney says middle powers must look beyond ‘pleasant fiction’ and form new alliances

PUBLISHED : 21 Jan 2026 at 16:08

“The middle powers must act together because if you are not at the table, you are on the menu,” Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney says during an address at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan 20, 2026. (Photo: Reuters)

DAVOS, Switzerland - Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney did not mention the United States or Donald Trump by name in a speech at the World Economic Forum on Tuesday, but it was clear where he placed the blame for what he called a “rupture” in the world order.

“I will talk today about the breaking of the world order, the end of a pleasant fiction and the beginning of a brutal reality where the geopolitics of the great powers is not subject to any constraint,” said Carney, who used a mixture of French and English in his address in Davos, Switzerland.

“Every day we are reminded that we live in an era of great power rivalry,” he said. “That the rules-based order is fading. That the strong do what they can, and the weak suffer what they must.”

He added, “Let me be direct: We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition.” The full text of the speech can be read here.

Carney, who received a standing ovation, spoke not long after Trump posted an artificial intelligence image on social media that included a map of American flags superimposed over both Canada and the United States.

Carney, a former investment executive who has served as the governor of the Canadian and English central banks, was on familiar ground in Davos. His office estimated that he has attended the global gathering about 30 times.

On Tuesday he arrived at a conference in turmoil over the rapidly growing rift between Europe and the United States because of Trump’s effort to make Greenland, which is controlled by Denmark, a US territory.

Trump’s hostility toward European allies over Greenland, which has included tariff threats, has led many Canadians to fear that he may act on his hope of annexing Canada as the 51st state.

Greenland, like the United States, is a neighbour of Canada. Canada and Denmark are members of NATO and have long been involved in military exercises in Greenland.

While Carney and his Cabinet ministers have repeatedly denounced Trump’s plan, Canada has not joined European countries in sending troops to the island in a gesture of support.

In his speech Tuesday, Carney said that Canada’s commitment to an article in the NATO treaty that views an attack on any member as an attack on all members was “unwavering”.

That article was not written with the consideration that one member would be attacking another. It is also not clear that all NATO members would respond militarily to an attack on another member.

Canada and the United States have a joint command for North American air defence. This week aircraft from both countries are at a US air base in Greenland as part of a regular training exercise that the joint air command said had been approved by Denmark.

In his speech Carney called on medium-size countries like Canada to band together to offset the power of the United States, China and Russia.

“The middle powers must act together because if you are not at the table, you are on the menu,” he said. “Great powers can afford now to go it alone.”

• This article originally appeared in The New York Times