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Just days after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney criticized the U.S. for wielding its power to demand subservience, President Donald Trump on Thursday revoked Carney’s invitation to his colonial “Board of Peace,” removing access to the structure that the administration seeks to use to replace the UN.
In a Truth Social post Thursday evening, Trump wrote a letter to Carney, saying: “Please let this Letter serve to represent that the Board of Peace is withdrawing its invitation to you regarding Canada’s joining, what will be, the most prestigious Board of Leaders ever assembled, at any time.”
Carney was originally planning to accept the invitation, sent last week, to join the body. However, the Canadian leader later distanced himself when Trump said that the U.S. would charge $1 billion to secure a permanent spot on the board.
The board’s immediate purpose is to implement the U.S.’s neocolonial plan to rule over Gaza, and has been harshly criticized by human rights advocates as an abomination to sideline Palestinian life in favor of colonial extraction. Experts have also raised alarm that the ultimate goal is to undermine the UN’s power and replace it with a U.S.-controlled body where countries are only accountable to the most powerful figures and the whims of the Trump administration.
Trump’s revocation of the invitation is highly ironic — an example of the exact type of hostile, transactional diplomacy that Carney criticized in his speech at the World Economic Forum earlier this week.
In his remarks, Carney called out the U.S. for wielding global power in order to demand subservience from other countries that have less power, calling out “American hegemony.” Under increasingly authoritarian and fascist presidents, this power is crumbling the pretense of international law and order, risking leaving a void where the most cruel and powerful take all, he said.
“When [middle powers like Canada] only negotiate bilaterally with a hegemon, we negotiate from weakness. We accept what’s offered. We compete with each other to be the most accommodating,” said Carney. “This is not sovereignty. It’s the performance of sovereignty while accepting subordination.”
In response to the speech, Trump wielded the U.S.’s power to demand subservience, proving Carney’s point. During his remarks at the Davos, Switzerland conference the next day, Trump chided Carney for not being “grateful” for the U.S.
“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. “They should be grateful to us, Canada. Canada lives because of the United States. Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements.”
Carney fired back, saying: “Canada doesn’t live because of the United States. Canada thrives because we are Canadian.”
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