Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has called for a new relationship with the United States to "help make America great again," urging greater economic cooperation between the two countries in a speech delivered in New York on Thursday.
Speaking at the Economic Club in New York, Carney said there should be a "true partnership" that reimagines cooperation in specific sectors challenged by global competition. His remarks come ahead of the mandatory review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) in July.
Carney noted that Canada is diversifying away from the US and signing trade deals with dozens of countries worldwide. "Our core objective across these partnerships is to increase our strategic autonomy. Because we live in a world where integration has been weaponised. Because a country that cannot feed, fuel or defend itself is not truly sovereign," he said.
The political environment in Canada has been shaped by Donald Trump's actions, including launching a trade war and suggesting Canada become the 51st US state, which infuriated Canadians and helped Carney win the prime minister job after promising to confront Trump.
Carney has emerged as a spokesperson for a movement of countries looking to counter the US under Trump. He has set a goal for Canada to double its non-US exports in the next decade, saying US tariffs are causing a chill in investment. "Canada strong will help make America great again. The examples are legion where we should work together and compete with the world together. And to those ends, we have made specific, practical proposals to the US administration," Carney said.
While Canada has been protected from the heaviest impact of Trump's tariffs by the USMCA, the trade agreement is up for review, and key sectors like aluminum and steel have been hit hard. Carney noted that Canadian aluminum exports to the US were the energy equivalent of 10 Hoover dams and questioned the logic of replacing Canada. "With America's growing energy needs, does it make sense to build the gigawatts needed to replace Canada?" he asked.
On automobiles, Carney pointed out that Canada is the US's biggest customer, and "an integrated North American market for production is the best and most durable way to confront intense global competition." He also highlighted Canada's vast reserves of critical minerals like potash, nickel, copper, and uranium, positioning Canada as a reliable supplier for US needs in affordable food, national defense, and AI power demand.
"At a time of a global energy crisis, Canada provides the United States with the reliable power and critical minerals that help fuel American growth: 99% of US natural gas imports, 85% of electricity imports and 60% of crude oil imports," Carney said. He emphasized that Canada is the US's largest customer, buying more goods than China, Japan, and Germany combined.
Reflecting on past differences, Carney stated, "We know that, when Canada and the United States have had our differences over the years, we have always – eventually – worked through them, because our shared values and common interests run deep. They run through our economies."
After Trump's threats to annex Canada as the 51st state, Carney described Canada's ties to the US as "weaknesses we must correct" and said the US had fundamentally changed its trade approach, raising tariffs to levels last seen during the Great Depression. In January, Carney referred to "American hegemony" at the World Economic Forum in Davos, warning that greater integration with great powers creates "vulnerabilities to be exploited."
