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Prime Minister Mark Carney told a crowd of New York industry titans and financiers on Thursday that Canada and the U.S. need to pursue a new partnership — a bilateral relationship premised not on how things were done in the past but one where a stronger, more independent Canada can selectively help “make America great again.”
Carney said as U.S. President Donald Trump prompts “tectonic shifts” in trade, and as the world becomes “more divided and dangerous,” Canada must focus more on “taking care of ourselves” and building up at home by embracing its status as an energy superpower.
But that doesn’t mean Canada wants to close itself off from the U.S., Carney said.
Rather, he said the government wants the two sides to pursue a “true partnership” and better co-operate on some strategic sectors, notably those hammered by Trump’s sectoral tariffs.
WATCH | Carney speaks at Economic Club of New York:
‘Canada Strong will help make America great again’: Carney pitches new partnership with U.S.
Speaking to the Economic Club of New York on Thursday, Prime Minister Mark Carney highlighted ‘specific, practical proposals’ Canada has made to the U.S. administration. Carney spoke about a new U.S. partnership ‘with a different Canada, a stronger Canada, a more confident Canada.’
Nodding to the “Fortress North America” concept floated by Ontario Premier Doug Ford and some U.S. interests, which prioritizes continental co-operation in the face of Chinese economic threats, Carney said this new relationship would “re-imagine co-operation in specific sectors deeply challenged by global competition.”
Carney said the U.S. is dependent on Canadian oil, natural gas, electricity, aluminum, potash, nickel, copper and industrial components, and the two sides should do more business together in these sectors, not less.
“That is mutual strength. Canada Strong will help make America great again. The examples are legion where we should work together and compete with the world together,” he said.
Carney said his government has pitched “specific, practical proposals” to the Americans to move on from this period of trade antagonism.
Carney didn’t say what the reception has been to those ideas. But there have been no formal trade talks in months, and there are no apparent signs a breakthrough is imminent.
Carney signalled that the old relationship where a subservient Canada essentially falls in line with what the U.S. wants is over.
What should replace it is a bilateral relationship featuring “a different Canada, a stronger Canada, a more confident Canada” that can deliver what the U.S needs on more equitable terms, he said.