Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney delivered a stark and uncompromising address in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday night, declaring the global rules-based international order effectively dead. He warned that rising great-power rivalry, exemplified by U.S. President Donald Trump’s aggressive tariff policies and his bid to seize Greenland, has pushed the world into a new era of coercion and domination.
Carney said the world has entered a “rupture, not a transition,” where trade, finance and supply chains are being weaponised by dominant states and multilateral institutions once relied on for stability are steadily losing relevance.
“The old, comfortable assumptions no longer hold. The strong do what they can, and the weak suffer what they must - unless they act together,” he said.
Rejecting what he called the false comfort of a functioning rules-based system, Carney urged nations to stop “living within a lie,” invoking Czech dissident Václav Havel’s warning about ritual compliance that sustains oppressive systems.
“For decades, we placed the sign in the window,” he said, referring to Havel’s metaphor of ritualised obedience. “That bargain no longer works. It is time to take the sign down.”
Carney insisted that middle powers, including Canada and Australia, are not powerless. He argued they can build a new international framework grounded in shared values, resilience and collective strength, rather than remaining dependent on dominant states.
“If you are not at the table, you are on the menu,” he warned, noting that bilateral engagement with hegemons often leads to subordination rather than sovereignty.
He said strategic autonomy in energy, food, defence, finance and critical minerals is now essential, but cautioned against a world of isolated “fortresses,” which would be poorer, more fragile and less sustainable.
Instead, Carney advocated “values-based realism,” a blend of principled commitments to sovereignty, territorial integrity and human rights with pragmatic engagement in a fractured global system.
The prime minister outlined a major shift in Canada’s domestic and foreign policy posture, insisting his government will no longer rely solely on moral authority but also on “the value of our strength.”
He announced broad domestic reforms, including tax cuts on incomes and investment, the removal of federal barriers to interprovincial trade, and the fast-tracking of $1 trillion in investments in energy, artificial intelligence, critical minerals and trade corridors.
Carney also confirmed Canada will double defence spending by 2030, focusing on strengthening domestic defence industries.
On the global stage, he said Canada has aggressively diversified its partnerships, finalising a comprehensive strategic agreement with the European Union, joining Europe’s defence procurement framework, and signing 12 trade and security deals across four continents in the last six months.
He also announced new strategic partnerships with China and Qatar, alongside ongoing free trade negotiations with India, ASEAN, Mercosur, Thailand and the Philippines.
Rejecting what he termed “naive multilateralism,” Carney called for flexible, issue-based coalitions of nations that share sufficient common ground to act decisively.
He highlighted Canada’s support for Ukraine, defence of Arctic sovereignty alongside Denmark and Greenland, opposition to Arctic-related tariffs, and contributions to NATO efforts to secure the alliance’s northern flank.
On trade and technology, he said Canada is pushing to link the Trans-Pacific Partnership with the European Union, forming G7-backed buyer clubs for critical minerals and cooperating with democracies on artificial intelligence to avoid dependence on dominant powers and tech giants.
Carney closed with a blunt call for honesty in global affairs, urging nations to apply consistent standards to allies and rivals.
“Apply the same standards to everyone,” he said. “When we criticise coercion from one direction and ignore it from another, we are still performing the ritual.”
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