Prime Minister Mark Carney pitched Canada as a reliable trading partner that “has what the world wants” before an international audience Monday in New York City.
Addressing the Council on Foreign Relations think tank before attending the UN General Assembly, Carney said Canada has the resources, talent and ingenuity the world needs in a time of political and economic turbulence.
“This is not a transition. This is a rupture,” he said. “This is a sharp change in a short period of time, driven by a variety of factors. We have a determination to rise up and meet this.”
Carney said Canada’s response is to “build strength at home,” diversify abroad and pursue “a variable geography to defend our values and pursue our interests.” The prime minister cited his government’s work in promoting interprovincial trade, boosting defence spending and diversifying its trading and security partnerships, including with the European Union.
Carney presented Canada as a trustworthy trading partner with connections to every major market.
After marking his remarks, Carney spoke one-on-one with Michael Froman, president of the Council on Foreign Relations.
The wide-ranging conversation - which began with a joke from Froman about whether Carney was able to get into the U.S. with a Canadian passport - touched on trade, Canada’s support for Ukraine and the government’s recent move to recognize Palestinian statehood.
On Sunday, the United Kingdom, Australia and Portugal joined Canada in recognizing an independent Palestinian state before world leaders arrived in New York City for this week’s 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.
Carney said Monday the move to recognize Palestinian statehood is consistent with Canada’s longtime policy of supporting a two-state solution. He said Canada and other countries are actively trying to create conditions for a ceasefire and a peace process.
“It’s necessary in our judgment, and the judgment of most other countries in the world, that we have to push on this now,” he said.
President Emmanuel Macron announced France would also recognize Palestinian statehood during a high-profile meeting at the general assembly Monday. Andorra, Belgium, Luxembourg, Malta, and Monaco also announced or confirmed their recognition of a Palestinian state.
Germany, Italy and Japan took part in the meeting but did not recognize a Palestinian state.
In an address during the meeting on a two-state solution in the UN General Assembly hall, Carney said the Israeli government is “working methodically to prevent the prospect of a Palestinian state from ever being established.”
He also said Hamas has “stolen from the Palestinian people, chased them and cheated them from their life and liberty, and it can in no way dictate their future.”
“In this context, Canada recognizes the State of Palestine and we offer our full partnership in building the promise of a peaceful future for both the State of Palestine and the State of Israel,” he added.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said “statehood for the Palestinians is a right, not a reward.” That appeared to push back against the Israeli government and the Trump administration, who have both said that recognizing statehood rewards Hamas after its Oct. 7 attack set off the war in Gaza two years ago.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said U.S. President Donald Trump disagrees with the move from some of America’s closest allies. During a press briefing in Washington Monday, Leavitt said Trump “feels this does not do anything to release the hostages -- which is the primary goal right now in Gaza.”
“It does nothing to end this conflict and bring this war to a close,” she said. “And frankly he believes it’s a reward to Hamas.”
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand, who is in New York this week, told CTV Monday that she is in contact “weekly” with her Palestinian counterpart.
Discussing the pressures on Canada’s economy stemming from policy decisions made in Washington, Carney told the Council on Foreign Relations audience that Canadians understand the need to be “masters in our own house.”
“The country does not want to wake up and look on, with all due respect, on Truth Social or X to see what the latest change is in U.S. policy, but wants to get on with what we can control,” he said. “And that’s a big part of the government’s strategy.”
Carney suggested that the trade tensions with the United States have created a “strong consensus” in Canada on the need to develop new trading arrangements and boost defence spending.
“We needed the rupture, we needed the shock, it seems,” he said.
“Candidly, we’ve been done a favour because all of these things we could have done before ourselves. There is a very strong consensus in the country to do that.”
Carney said Canada, the U.S. and Mexico are in the early stages of developing a “very attractive” version of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement on trade.
Carney later Monday met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo─ƒan and Kenyan President William Ruto.
By Kelly Geraldine Malone.
