Transcription
The world is undergoing a rupture across several dimensions: in technology, in energy, in commerce, and geopolitics. Integration is being used as a weapon by some. And the rules are not constraining the hegemons. Now, we have to actively take on the world as it is, not as we wish it to be. We know nostalgia is not a strategy, but we don't think that we're destined to submit to a more transactional, insular, and brutal world.
I'd like to say thank you again for the invitation. I do think that it is fitting that Canada is the first non-European country to join this forum. As we are the most European of non-European countries, we share a triple alignment of history, of values, and trust. Our histories are deeply intertwined. I refer back to the water analogy that we just witnessed with the opening ceremony. Uh, but it's personified by tens of millions of Canadians of European descent, including more than 60,000 Armenians.
Our shared values are born of that common history: freedom, rule of law, democracy, pluralism. And these values shape our relationships, determine our priorities, and point to our common future. Canada has consistently stood up for these values, including in recent years. From our membership of the coalition of the willing as one of the largest per capita contributors to Ukraine, to our leadership of the NATO brigade in Latvia, our intensifying cooperation with the Nordic countries, UK, and Germany on Arctic security, and our role as the only non-European participant in the European mission in Armenia.
We're demonstrating not just the strength of our values in defending the rules-based international order, as you rightly mentioned, Antonio, uh, but also the value of our strength. And that's necessary because the world is undergoing a rupture across several dimensions: in technology, in energy, in commerce, and geopolitics. Integration is being used as a weapon by some, and the rules are not constraining the hegemons. Now, we have to actively take on the world as it is, not as we wish it to be. We know nostalgia is not a strategy, but we don't think that we're destined to submit to a more transactional, insular, and brutal world. And gatherings such as these point to a better way forward.
I think I'll close my remarks with a few observations on strategic autonomy, recognizing that security and prosperity today extend well beyond the traditional areas of food, energy, and defense, important as they are, to include space-based communications, semiconductors, digital sovereignty, critical minerals, independent payment systems, clean energy, and vaccines. And our strategic imperative is to build these sovereign capabilities with the most trusted partners, and that creates enormous opportunities for partnership between Canada and Europe. Uh, we view ourselves as highly complementary to your economic and security goals. That's demonstrated through the work we're doing with the presidencies on the new EU Canada Strategic Partnership of the Future, building deeper relationships from digital to defense, supply chains to security. Uh, we're honored to be the first non-European country as part of the EU SAFE initiative. Uh, we would observe that in the last year, we have struck $18 billion worth of critical minerals deals, uh, across 20 of the world's leading critical minerals. The way to look at this is we are warehousing these to look for government-to-government deals, uh, with our close partners, and, and under, uh, the rubric of the G7 first and foremost, uh, but then more broadly, we're working with European partners across the technology stack from hardware, cloud infrastructure, artificial intelligence, and space. And as we'll discuss later, we are an energy superpower: third largest oil producer, fourth largest natural gas, largest, uh, hydro renewable base. We're committed to addressing climate change while providing reliable, affordable energy to our citizens and partners.
In closing, we're here because of your invitation. Again, thank you for that. But we're here because of the moral and security imperatives of our cooperation in the Caucasus, in the Baltics, in Ukraine, across Europe, and also because of the immense potential for our partnerships to build a better, more prosperous, sustainable, and just world for our citizens. And I'll close with this. Uh, it's my strong personal view that the international order will be rebuilt, but it will be rebuilt out of Europe. And so I'm very appreciative of the symbolism of this invitation. Thank you.
>> The US has fundamentally changed its approach to trade, raising its tariffs to levels last seen during the Great Depression. Many of our former strengths, based on our close ties to America, have become our weaknesses. Weaknesses that we must correct.
A calm Sunday address turned into a thunderous political signal from Mark Carney. Canada's decades-long comfort with the United States is over. Speaking directly to the nation in a video titled "Forward Guidance," the prime minister warned that what once powered Canada's prosperity, deep economic and political integration with Washington, has now become a strategic liability.
"They believe we should wait it out in the hope that the United States will return to normal, that the good old days will come back. But hope isn't a plan, and nostalgia is not a strategy." Hope is not a plan, and nostalgia is not a strategy, Carney said, arguing that the United States has fundamentally changed its approach to trade and global leadership, leaving Canada exposed to shocks it can no longer afford.
>> The US has fundamentally changed its approach to trade, raising its tariffs to levels last seen during the Great Depression. Many of our former strengths, based on our close ties to America, have become our weaknesses.
The Canadian leader delivered a stark and unsparing assessment of the global economic landscape, pointing to tariff levels imposed by Donald Trump that he said echo protectionist policies last seen during the Great Depression. In his view, the shift signals that Washington is unlikely to return to its earlier economic footing anytime soon. The Canadian leader warned that Ottawa can no longer rely on assumptions of stability from its southern neighbor. "Many of our former strengths, based on our close ties to America, have become our weaknesses," he said, framing the moment as a rupture in a decades-old economic logic. "The message was blunt: Canada must rebuild its future without overdependence on any single partner."
Unveiling what he called the Canada Strong Strategy, Carney laid out an ambitious blueprint aimed at reshaping the country's economic foundations, mobilizing nearly $1 trillion in new investment, dismantling internal trade barriers across Canada's 13 provincial and territorial economies, and forging new trade and energy corridors designed to reduce reliance on traditional US-linked routes.