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Former prime minister Justin Trudeau and international pop star Katy Perry took their relationship to the next level, appearing together at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday, where Trudeau delivered a speech to the world’s elite on the virtues of soft power. 

“The 80 years of stability and prosperity that the world has seen since the end of the horrors of World War Two is over,” Trudeau said, as Perry looked on from the front row. 

“That era is done. We are now in a transition period where we are creating the new world we live in,” he added. 

That new world, Trudeau said, is one where great powers are using “hard power,” including military might and economic dominance, to advance their narrow national interests. 

The former prime minister said investing in people, diplomacy and trade helps societies prosper at home and that prosperity coupled with deep friendships with other countries helps nations weather global challenges. 

Katy Perry is shown close up in profile as she sits in the front row watching Trudeau's speech. Katy Perry looks on as former prime minister Justin Trudeau delivers a speech during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

In recent years those challenges, Trudeau said, have come in the form of the COVID-19 pandemic, the invasion of Ukraine, the war in Gaza and the rise of populism and economic disruption.  

“We’ve seen a backsliding of democracies and democratic values everywhere around the world, including in some of the world’s historically strongest democracies,” Trudeau said.

The international community’s diplomatic, financial and military support for Ukraine, as well as the national unity in this country that has resulted in a Team Canada approach to the trade war with the United States, are both examples of the strength of soft power, Trudeau said. 

Referencing a recent “date with an American girl to a rooftop bar in Montréal,” Trudeau said that when “she ordered a Jack and Coke, the server kindly informed her that there was no more American alcohol, not just in that bar but anywhere in Montréal and probably anywhere across the entire country.

“That’s an example of Canadians standing up for each other, that’s an example of soft power, being motivated to be there for each other at a time of stress, at a time of anxiety,” Trudeau said.

The former prime minister did not confirm that Perry was the American girl in question, but in July, the pair were spotted having a drink together in Montréal at a trendy bar called Taverne Atlantic, which Trudeau has been known to visit.

Great to see you @kishida230. Katy and I were so glad to have the chance to sit down with you and Yuko. Thank you, Fumio, for your friendship and your continued commitment to both the international rules-based order and to a better future for everyone. https://t.co/zLEuppHNST

—JustinTrudeau

Since then, the pair have popped up in numerous places around the world as their romance has evolved.

In October, the U.K.’s Daily Mail published photos of the pair on board Perry’s yacht off the coast of Santa Barbara, Calif., sharing an intimate embrace. Later that month, the pair were spotted holding hands while leaving a cabaret show at the Crazy Horse in Paris. 

In December, both Trudeau and Perry posted pictures on their respective social accounts detailing their trip to Japan, where they toured Tokyo and had lunch with former Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida and his wife, Yuko.

“Katy and I were so glad to have the chance to sit down with you and Yuko,” Trudeau wrote on X. “Thank you, Fumio, for your friendship and your continued commitment to both the international rules-based order and to a better future for everyone.”