{"id":792466,"date":"2026-07-10T09:10:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T09:10:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/792466\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T09:10:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T09:10:15","slug":"canadas-carney-defends-his-trip-as-he-visits-saudi-arabia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/792466\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada’s Carney defends his trip as he visits Saudi Arabia"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO (AP) \u2014 Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney defended his trip to Saudi Arabia<\/a> despite its poor human rights record and said on Thursday, during his visit to the kingdom<\/a> that publicly condemning countries from afar is \u201can ineffective strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the visit \u2014 the first by a Canadian leader to Saudi Arabia<\/a> in 26 years \u2014 Carney met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom\u2019s de facto ruler. <\/p>\n

Carney has been seeking to expand his country\u2019s economic ties<\/a> beyond its heavy reliance on the United States, and diversify trade and attract investments against the backdrop of U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s tariffs and threats<\/a> to the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement. <\/p>\n

\u201cLecturing countries from afar is an ineffective strategy,\u201d Carney told reporters in the Saudi city of Jeddah. \u201cIt\u2019s satisfying, but it\u2019s ineffective.\u201d<\/p>\n

He stressed that engagement \u201cdoesn\u2019t mean that we agree with everything that a country is doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia\u2019s human rights record drew global scrutiny after the 2018 killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi<\/a>. A U.S. intelligence assessment concluded Prince Mohammed likely approved the operation, which Saudi Arabia denies.<\/p>\n

In Jeddah, Carney also said that the world is becoming more dangerous and divided and that Canada must expand its partnerships elsewhere, beyond the U.S., its largest trading partner.<\/p>\n

The visit contrasts with the approach by former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose government publicly criticized Saudi Arabia\u2019s human rights record in 2018, triggering a diplomatic rift that lasted five years.<\/p>\n

The criticism prompted Riyadh to expel Canada\u2019s ambassador, suspend new trade and investment and recall thousands of Saudi students. The countries restored full diplomatic relations in 2023.<\/p>\n

Carney said he cares deeply about human rights and Canadian consular cases, citing a case he said he raised with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan<\/a> during a meeting on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey\u2019s capital this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause I was with the president, it was addressed favorably. If I sat in Ottawa … I wouldn\u2019t have had that conversation. I wouldn\u2019t have had that impact. That\u2019s a small example,\u201d Carney said. <\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand, who accompanied Carney to Saudi Arabia, said she also raised human rights and consular cases during her meetings. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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For its part, Saudi Arabia has sought to attract foreign investment as Prince Mohammed pursues an ambitious plan to diversify the kingdom\u2019s economy beyond oil<\/p>\n

Saudi Investment Minister Fahad Al-Saif called Canada \u201ca trusted long-term partner\u201d and said Saudi investors offer \u201cpatient capital.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also Thursday, Carney attended a ceremony for 13 commercial agreements and memorandums of understanding between Canadian and Saudi companies and institutions, including engineering firms Hatch and AtkinsR\u00e9alis \u2014 agreements the prime minister\u2019s office said are worth more than 1 billion Canadian dollars ($710 million).<\/p>\n

Nelson Wiseman, a professor emeritus at the University of Toronto, highlighted the practical side of Carney\u2019s policies. <\/p>\n

\u201cCarney says he is taking the world as it is,\u201d Wiseman said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t mean looking beyond human rights; it means being realistic about what preaching about it to authoritarian leaders can accomplish.\u201d <\/p>\n

Carney flies back to Canada on Friday. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO (AP) \u2014 Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney defended his trip to Saudi Arabia despite its poor human…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":792467,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[86257,45,49,48,13192,16946,1376,2841,37472,13188,25162,2659,97938,81163,44,714,27179,13341,69323,883],"class_list":["post-792466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-anita-anand","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-government","tag-diplomacy","tag-donald-trump","tag-general-news","tag-human-rights","tag-international-agreements","tag-justin-trudeau","tag-mark-carney","tag-mohammed-bin-salman-bin-abdulaziz-al-saud","tag-nelson-wiseman","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-recep-tayyip-erdogan","tag-saudi-arabia","tag-saudi-arabia-government","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=792466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792466\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/792467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=792466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=792466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=792466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}