The MeidasTouch Podcast

Carney Turns Up Pressure on Trump Ahead of the G7

24 min
Jun 14, 2026about 1 month ago
Listen to Episode
Summary

The episode features analysis of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's speeches at the G7 and in Dublin, where he articulates a vision of middle powers uniting to counterbalance the United States under Trump. Carney emphasizes the breakdown of the post-Cold War rules-based order and calls for Canada, Europe, and other allied nations to build strategic autonomy and economic partnerships independent of U.S. reliance.

Insights
  • Middle powers are actively organizing alternative power structures in response to perceived U.S. isolationism, representing a fundamental shift in global geopolitics away from U.S.-led multilateralism
  • Supply chain resilience and strategic autonomy have become central policy priorities for allied nations seeking to reduce economic dependencies that could be weaponized
  • Canada is positioning itself as a bridge between transatlantic and transpacific partnerships, leveraging its unique geographic and diplomatic position to lead coalition-building efforts
  • The erosion of shared values (democracy, rule of law, climate action) between the U.S. and traditional allies is being used as a justification for building alternative institutional frameworks
  • Economic integration is being reframed from an advantage into a vulnerability, driving diversification of trade relationships and defense procurement partnerships
Trends
Rise of variable geometry coalitions: issue-specific partnerships replacing traditional bloc-based alliancesStrategic autonomy becoming dominant policy framework for mid-sized economiesDecoupling of Western alliance from U.S. leadership and values alignmentAcceleration of EU-Canada defense and security integrationBuilding of alternative trading blocs (Trans-Pacific Partnership bridge with EU targeting 1.5B people)Critical minerals and supply chain diversification as geopolitical strategyMultilateral institutions weakening as rules-based order fragmentsMiddle power coalition-building as counterweight to great power rivalryDefense spending and military capability development among allied nations increasingValues-based diplomacy (democracy, climate, human rights) becoming explicit dividing line in alliance formation
Companies
European Union
Central partner in Carney's vision for middle power coalition; Canada joining EU defense procurement and deepening tr...
Trans-Pacific Partnership
Carney championing efforts to build bridge between TPP and EU to create 1.5B person rules-based trading bloc
G7
Forum where Carney is articulating new global order vision; Carney notes G7 important but not running the world
People
Mark Carney
Delivering speeches articulating vision of middle powers uniting against U.S. isolationism and building strategic aut...
Emmanuel Macron
G7 chair praised by Carney for direct, concrete, ambitious style in dealing with international partners including Trump
Donald Trump
Criticized for dismantling rules-based order, imposing tariffs, and weakening U.S. alliances through America First po...
Charlie Angus
Leads Midas Canada network covering Canada's emerging global leadership role in multilateral world
Quotes
"In a world of great power rivalry, middle powers have a choice, which is to compete for favor of the great powers or to combine to create a third path with impact."
Mark CarneyG7 speech
"When the rules no longer protect you, you must protect yourself."
Mark CarneyDublin speech
"From rules based to arms based, from right to might, from values to vanquished."
Mark CarneyDublin speech
"Canada is the most non-European of European countries. And we are currently transforming our cooperation with the European Union."
Mark CarneyG7 speech
"The G7 is not running the world. It's important, but it's not running the world."
Mark CarneyFrance speech
Full Transcript
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Watch as Prime Minister Carney talks about how the post-Cold War rules-based order is breaking down, it's under threat, and how multilateral institutions have weakened. And thus change is absolutely needed and Canada is prepared to lead. Here, let's play this clip. And for Canada and Ireland, it means harnessing our deep relationships as sources of strength. And this is an urgent task now because the world is changing rapidly. Ireland and Canada are navigating a global rupture, not a quiet transition. The post-Cold War world rules-based order is breaking down. Multilateral institutions have weakened economic integration from which we have benefited. Is being weaponized. The international trading system which we've relied upon for decades is under threat. And at the same time, new technologies from artificial intelligence to cyber and quantum are changing the nature of war, the structure of economies, and the possibilities of human advancement. And then he gives his solution. And this is an echo also of what we heard him talk about in that powerful Davos speech a few months back where he said, look, in a world where you have these great power rivalries that have developed, midpowers can either become dependent on one of the great powers or the midpowers can unite and we could be a great power. If Canada, European Union, as he goes, Ireland, others, if we join forces together, think about how we can be unstoppable and stand up against these bullies. Let's play this clip. The point is that in a world of great power rivalry, middle powers have a choice, which is to compete for favor of the great powers or to combine to create a third path with impact. The nations that invest in their own capabilities and partner with like-minded allies will multiply their strength. They become a more effective block to deter aggression, to protect their supply chains, and to realize their core economic interests. And because of the economic interests, their social values. And again, speaking in Dublin, Prime Minister Carney talked about how right now many countries are self-included or concluding, we must develop greater strategic autonomy because the rules that we've come to expect in the past, the architecture, frankly, that was created in a rules-based order developed by the United States. Trump has thrown it out the window. We can't depend on those rules. So we must unite together. Again, a powerful message. Let's play it. Right now, many countries or selves included are concluding that they must develop greater strategic autonomy. And the impulse for that is understandable because when the rules no longer protect you, you must protect yourself. In a country that cannot feed itself, fuel itself, or defend itself has few options. More from Prime Minister Carney here talking about how for decades governments and businesses prioritize deficiency over resiliency, and that has left our supply chains and trading relationships that have created dependencies. And we thought we could depend on certain countries like the United States that we thought were allies, only for them to turn around and betray us in this way. We must never fall for this mistake again. We must never fall into this trap. And when I play these clips, I want our United States audience, our Canadian audience, our international audience. We have a very big international audience to truly reflect on a rapidly changing global world order and how big of a deal it is that Trump really screwed this up. I think about Donald Trump talking about how he was going to make the reflecting pool so incredibly beautiful and how all you have to do is paint it blue and it would get rid of the algae miraculously and it would just become spectacular. And I think about that as symbolic of this broader situation. Anyone who was looking at what Trump was doing with the reflecting pool would tell you it's only going to attract more algae. You're going to screw things up and it's going to look horrible. Anybody looking at what Donald Trump has done with his tariffs against the world, his catastrophic and unlawful war in Iran that he went into with Netanyahu will tell you all you've done is just created a systemic shift in the global world order where you've irreparably weakened the United States. You realize that. And here's what Carney says. Let's play it because over decades governments and businesses prioritized efficiency over resilience. We all have developed supply chains and trading relationships that create dependencies that can turn economic integration from an advantage, which is what it was into subordination. More for Prime Minister Carney here talking about true sovereignty. Let's play it. But we recognize a second principle that building true sovereignty cannot be achieved in isolation. It requires diversification. It requires partnership. And so we are focused on building a dense web of connections, said another way, ad hoc coalitions that work issue by issue with partners that share enough common ground to act together. And that's why Canada was the first non-European country to join the EU's safe defense procurement program. It's why we've signed 20 new economic and security agreements over five continents in the past year. It's why we're championing efforts to build a bridge between the Trans Pacific Partnership and the European Union, something that would create a trading block of one and a half billion people. A rules-based trading block of one and a half billion people. These coalitions are also there to help solve global problems with a rules-based order that's under threat, the so-called variable geometry. In other words, building coalitions that focus on specific issues. From AI with India and Australia to our critical minerals alliance with the G7 to nuclear energy with South Africa. These are examples of what Canada is doing. He then talks about the Canada, Ireland, Europe relationship. Let's play it. Canada, Ireland and Europe are increasingly and more immediately vulnerable to once distant threats. I suggest that amidst this change, amidst this disruption, Canada, Ireland and Europe can be pivotal, powerful and purposeful, a force for good. Pivotal because we are the most connected region in the world to each other and to others. Canada has 16 free trade agreements with 51 countries covering one and a half billion people, two thirds of global GDP. And we're on course to double that market access this year. The EU maintains preferential access to over 80 partner countries, making it the top trading partner for 80 nations globally. Together we are powerful because we have the capacity to act together. Combine the population is more than twice that of the United States. We have a larger cultural export industry and a more diverse one I might add. A similarly sized GDP comparable R&D spend. Our collective defense budgets twice that of China's. We're home to the majority of the world's top 100 universities and over half of the world's Nobel Prize winners. So together we are one of the largest economic, cultural, technological, financial blocks in the world. And I think this is very important where he talks about shared values, values and principles. And that's what we can rely on that Canada, Ireland, Europe share the same values and implicit in this is that we don't share the values of this Trump mega version of America. We thought we shared those values, but we don't here in Canada and Europe, Ireland, we believe that climate change is a real thing. We believe in human rights. We believe in democracy. We believe in these freedoms and you don't in the United States. That's essentially what he's saying here at play this clip. So with this common history with these shared values, we have developed a unique worldview, transatlantic worldview, if you will, rooted in a simple but profound conviction that we are stronger when we are connected, that our prosperity is a greater than that of the that our prosperity grows when it's shared and that we are the stewards of our lands. And then he talks about right before the speech, the rupture in the global system that's developed. Let's play it. Now there's one other threshold that I'll mention at which Canada, Ireland, Europe now stand. And that's the rupture in the global system. From rules based to arms based, from right to might, from values to vanquished. Where will we go and to what purpose? And I'd suggest that the thresholds that we have crossed and those before us have crossed, the shared values that have been forged in doing so will bring us forward. Earlier he gave a speech as well in Ireland where he talked about how Canada has worked to deepen our partnership with the European Union. Let's play it. Now in parallel to our deepening relationship bilaterally, Canada is also working to deepen our partnership with the European Union, particularly during Ireland's upcoming presidency of the Council of the EU. We fully support your priorities for your presidency. First, increasing competitiveness, simplifying processes, deepening investment, diversifying trade, focus on strategic sectors and resilience. Bolstering security with continued support of the EU for Ukraine, strengthening the defense and security industrial base. And finally, and foundationally, upholding the values of the rule of law and democracy, indispensable to the foundation of the EU, but also indispensable foundational to our partnership between Canada and Ireland. And Prime Minister Carney, of course, multilingual. So he gives these speeches in both English and in French, and he answers questions in both English and French. So here's why you'll hear it as a translation right here. He talks about how he believes the new world order is being built out of Europe. And that's going to be the center. And Canada sees itself as a uniter between Trans-Pacific partnerships, Asia, Trans-Atlantic partnerships, Europe. And you saw Canada take this very prominent role at the European Union political community meeting in Yerevan, Armenia. It's the first time in non-European country like Canada was there, representing, you know, almost being treated as a European country because Canada's become this unifying force under Prime Minister Carney. Let's play it. Canada is the most non-European of European countries. And we are currently transforming our cooperation with the European Union. Last June, we reached a new partnership with the European Union that has strengthened our cooperation on climate, technologies, and trade. In February, Canada became the first non-European member of the SAFE mechanism, an initiative by the European Union on defense procurement. We have already established 56 partnerships on critical minerals in more than 10 countries, primarily in Europe. In a world that is more dangerous and divided, Canada is choosing to build and to work in partnership with Europe. Finally, I do want to reflect on this as well because Prime Minister Carney will acknowledge that Canada, because of the United States trade war against it, Canada has faced certain headwinds, right, because they're under attack from their former top trading partner. But what I love about what Prime Minister Carney does, which is the opposite of what Trump does, he, Carney levels with the people. You see, we the people can understand difficult situation and problems. We just need to be talked to and explained how we're actually going to get out of it, what the problems are, offer real solutions, and stop defrauding us and stop making it about yourself, make it about the people. More from Prime Minister Carney here. This is now in France, where he talks about how the G7 is, he goes, look, the G7 is not running the world. It's important, but it's not running the world. And there's a G7 meeting, obviously, taking place in France. Let's play what he says over here. I don't go, I'm looking forward to this summit. And I'm looking forward as I should add as well, last point, the broader participation that will be at the summit, everyone from Kenya through to the UAE, who will be there at the broader outreach. That's an important component of this, because the G7 is not running the world. It's important, but it's not running the world. More for Prime Minister Carney talking about how he likes President Macron's style. Let's play it. So whether I had any advice for President Macron is outgoing G7 chair. The short answer is no. In the following respects, obviously, he's extremely experienced statesman has known, for example, the question was specifically with President, respect to President Trump, they've known each other. They were both presidents during Mr. Trump's first term. And I believe that President Macron's style, which is, which is direct, it's concrete, and it's ambitious, is, is well suited to, to making progress with all G7 partners, very much including President Trump. He was asked a question also about the Gordy Howe bridge, which connects Michigan and Canada. And this was a major project between Canada and the Great State of Michigan. And Donald Trump, because of the owner of the nearby bridge petitioned, there's a private bridge right nearby, and they petitioned Donald Trump, this American billionaire family, to basically shut down the Gordy Howe bridge as a way to attack Canada. Donald Trump's regime has worked to like shut down this bridge as part of just the constant attacks against Canada. So Carney was asked about that. Watch what his response is. Let's play it. Yesterday, you said it was due to technical issues. What are those technical issues? Look, it's the discussion, as I said yesterday, the, was that the request of the US administration will look to work through what issues they have. I'm not, I don't think it's productive to, to work through those in public. And our teams are working through, I've actually haven't been briefed on it today, the specifics of it. It's important we get this right. This is, this is an asset for both countries and our people, most fundamentally, it's going to exist for decades. So if we need to take a few more weeks to get it right and get it launched, we'll do that. And then I'll leave you with this right here. Charlie Angus, who leads Midas Canada. I think he said it perfectly on this, on the last episode of Midas Canada that he did about what we're seeing in terms of the growth of Midas Canada, how Midas Canada is really shedding the spotlight on Canada's leadership in the world and rightfully so because Prime Minister Carney and Canada have become leaders, have become the leader, I think, in a multilateral, multi-polar world. We've seen a complete rupture of the old system and the rebuilt system with these midpowers. We're seeing Carney be a major leader in, you know, Midas Canada really leading the way and shedding a light on it. Such an honor to work with Charlie Angus. Here's, here's what he had to say. Let's play it. Steve, it's been amazing since we started the Midas Canada network. You know, I mean, all my years, you and I go back a long way. I was, I used to work for your show back in Studio Two Days. Gotta have the heart of a gambler to stake your fortune on mining. That's the whole history of this town of Cobalt. This place has lived and almost died many times in the endless cycle of boom and bust. And even in all my years in Parliament, nobody ever really noticed anybody from Canada unless we were Neil Young or Mike Myers. But I think there's a real searching right now as we are in such on certain times and people are watching Canada and people are listening to what's happening. So the Midas Canada viewership is, has, has developed a strong hold around the world. And so, and it's what we're trying to do is build that conversation, a conversation across borders, across the United States, across Europe, across Asia, about democracy. And Canada, I think right now plays a role in it in a very significant way. There you have it folks. Let me know what you think about this all. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 7 million subscribers and thanks so much for watching. Thanks for watching. Be sure to add the Midas Touch podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts for new updates every single day.