Trump says Canada 'lives because of US' after Carney rebukes Washington

By Laura Dhillon Kane and Hadriana Lowenkron

 

US President Donald Trump accused Mark Carney of ingratitude for American military protection, firing back after the Canadian leader used a Davos stage to urge mid-sized nations to band together against aggressive superpowers. 

 

Speaking at the World Economic Forum on Wednesday, Trump pointed out his proposed Golden Dome missile shield would also defend Canadian airspace. 

 

“Canada gets a lot of freebies from us, by the way. They should be grateful also, but they’re not. I watched your prime minister yesterday. He wasn’t so grateful,” Trump said. 

 

“Canada lives because of the United States. Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements.”

 

 

Carney’s speech on Tuesday reverberated through the annual gathering of political and business elites. He declared the international rules-based order effectively dead and argued the world has shifted to an era “where the most powerful pursue their interests using economic integration as coercion.”

 

He didn’t name Trump, but he cited tactics closely associated with the US president — “tariffs as leverage, financial infrastructure as coercion, supply chains as vulnerabilities to be exploited” — and urged countries to push back by building new forms of cooperation.

 

“Middle powers must act together because if you are not at the table, you are on the menu,” he said. 

 

The remarks were especially striking given Canada’s long-standing economic integration and military cooperation with the US. Carney, 60, a former central banker, won office last year on a pledge to reduce that dependence. He has since signed a limited trade deal with China and begun to roll out billions in new defense spending.

 

Canada is considering investments in the Golden Dome system, which the US president has estimated at $175 billion but a Bloomberg analysis found may cost as much as $1.1 trillion. The proposal — which contains unproven space-based technology — would protect the continent from threats including ballistic missiles, hypersonics and advanced cruise missiles. 

 

The two countries already jointly operate the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or Norad. In 2022, Canada unveiled a C$38.6 billion ($28 billion) plan to modernize the system. That funding includes a new Australian-developed radar network to detect incoming missiles, announced by Carney in March.

 

Canada has long leaned on the US for continental defense — especially in the Arctic, where Norad and US capabilities underpin much of the region’s security. But the relationship hasn’t been one-way. Canada has followed the US into conflicts, including under the United Nations banner in the Korean War and in Afghanistan after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. 

 

More than 40,000 Canadian troops served in the Afghanistan mission; 158 died.

 

Carney left the World Economic Forum on Wednesday just as Trump was arriving. One of his final meetings was with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, and a readout from Carney’s office highlighted Canada’s plans to quadruple defense spending over a decade and bolster Arctic security.

 

The release also signaled a united front on Greenland, as Trump continues to argue the US must control the Arctic island. Rutte and Carney reaffirmed their support for Denmark’s sovereignty, stressing that any decisions about Greenland’s future are for Greenland and Denmark to make.