Mark Carney, Canada’s new prime minister, broke with tradition by visiting Europe rather than the United States for his first foreign trip as the country’s leader, with his warm welcome in France and the UK standing in stark contrast to his country’s fracturing relationship with its southern neighbor. #CNN #News
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00:00I saw the Times, perhaps, with Canada's new Prime Minister, Mark Carney, breaking with
00:03tradition and travelling to Europe, not the United States, on his first official foreign
00:07trip.
00:08Carney was greeted warmly by the French President Emmanuel Macron, and then in London, Carney
00:12met with his British counterpart, Sir Keir Starmer.
00:15The emphasis on Canada and Europe standing together side by side, and Carney did not
00:20hold back in his criticism of the US President.
00:23Nobody's come out forcefully and said those comments about the 51st state are just not
00:28on.
00:29Do you think that our traditional allies are not sticking their necks out because they're
00:34concerned that if they say something that'll anger President Trump, that they'll be next?
00:40I think, I think I would take seriously what the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom said
00:47today.
00:48Look, I don't think one needs to respond to every comment about another country.
00:56Look, we can stand up for ourselves, because Canada's strong.
01:00We can stand up for ourselves.
01:02We've called out those comments.
01:04They're disrespectful, they're not helpful, and they need to stop before, and they will
01:10have to stop before we sit down and have a conversation about our broader, our broader
01:14partnership with the United States.
01:16But we're Canada.
01:18We don't need other people to come to our aid.
01:21This trade uncertainty, the actual tariffs, but then also the uncertainty around what
01:27other trade actions could be taken by the world's largest economy, are having an impact.
01:31They're having an impact on the United States itself.
01:34That impact on the United States will continue to grow.
01:37The impact of weakening US economy has an impact on everyone else.
01:41But of course it has a direct impact as well on the affected countries.
01:46It's not welcome.
01:48What we see is a number of things, a number of measures that we can take ourselves.
01:54We can't control the trade policy of the United States.
01:57We don't pretend to control policies of other countries.
02:01What we can control is our own domestic economic policy.
02:04There's many opportunities in Canada.
02:06It's a very strong economy, but it could be much stronger.
02:09We could have one Canadian economy instead of 13.
02:12We can build the millions of houses that Canadians need.
02:15We can diversify our trading relationships.
02:17We can build new trading corridors, and we can fully realize what Canada is, which is
02:22an energy superpower in both clean and conventional energy, and that's exactly what we're going
02:26to do.
02:27We are going to get stronger while those who take trade actions get weaker.
02:31I'm Paula Newton in New York.
02:32You have been listening to Mark Carney there in London taking questions from the press.
02:37We have Melissa Bell in Paris on standby because he was in France before he went to the UK.
02:41Melissa Bell, if you forgive me, I will, since I am normally based in Canada, I'll just sum
02:47up what he was talking about there.
02:48First and foremost, I think for our audience, they will need to know that normally he would
02:51not be in France in the UK first.
02:53Any prime minister of Canada, they would normally have a visit first to the United States.
02:57Since President Trump decided to say that he wanted to annex Canada, Mark Carney saying
03:04quite forcefully that for bilateral talks to continue, that kind of talk has to stop.
03:08They have not even had a phone call, and that was very clear.
03:12I will also say that in the UK, he was asked whether or not he discussed with the King
03:18or with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer whether or not, in any way, shape or form, they were
03:25going to stick up for Canada in calling itself the 51st state.
03:28His answer was, we don't need other people to stick up for us.
03:31We're Canada.
03:32We'll handle this ourselves.
03:33And finally, they are talking about a blind trust that he has just been asked to put all
03:38of his assets in.
03:39It is a bone of contention because he was the chair of Brookfield Management.
03:42This is one of the largest corporations on the planet in terms of investment dollars
03:47and many people seeking answers, although he certainly says that he has done everything
03:52by the book and it's now in a blind trust.
03:55And all of this was done ahead of schedule.
03:57Again, forgive me, Melissa Bell, I do want to ask you directly, and you know so much
04:02more about this than I do, in terms of what his meeting was like with President Macron,
04:07especially as they are trying to, as they continue to try and meet the Trump administration
04:13where they are, right, where they are on tariffs and other issues, including Ukraine.
04:18What you thought about that line about Mark Carney saying we, in fact, are the most European
04:25of non-European nations?
04:29It was a meeting that was remarkably close.
04:34This was Emmanuel Macron, he said, welcoming a friend to Paris and with great joy and Mark
04:39Carney, for his part, making clear that his first visits to France, the United Kingdom,
04:45his third day visit will be to the far north in Canada.
04:48But these foreign visits were very much about speaking to reliable allies.
04:52And this, of course, as you remind our viewers quite rightly, Paula, in the context where
04:58this sort of coalition of the willing is being formed to try and figure out how not just
05:03Europe now, but a much greater alliance, 37 countries that are now in talks, that hadn't
05:09been so closely involved in figuring out how they can cooperate and continue to help to
05:14Ukraine.
05:15Not just Canada, of course, and all the European countries, but New Zealand, Australia, Japan
05:19as well.
05:20The idea of this visit, I think, is to show very much in line with what we heard Mark
05:24Carney say just as he was being sworn in.
05:26I'm going to interrupt you there.
05:27Again, forgive me.
05:28We go back to London.
05:29In that the, for example, Portugal is, the government of Portugal is taking steps to
05:39diversify their supply.
05:40What's also in the public domain is a very substantial effort in Europe to so-called
05:46rearm Europe, which is a significant consolidation and increase in the amount of defense spending
05:52in Europe.
05:55That is of interest to us as Canada because of the potential alternative supplier.
06:00It creates the potential to create supply chains that mean that Canadian companies are
06:06participating in the development of these defense systems.
06:12And we are actively exploring, and this, full disclosure, this is one of the discussions
06:19that I had both in Paris and in the UK, was the potential participation.
06:24Now, the UK is not formally in that, but we can see, particularly given our security posture
06:32in Europe, given potential steps in Ukraine, given our own security needs, that diversification
06:39of our suppliers in a way that ensures that as much as possible of that production resides
06:47in Canada and benefits Canadians in multiple ways is a prudent thing to do.
06:52That's what I can tell you.
06:53Bonjour, Monsieur Carnet.
06:54Joël-Denis Belavance de La Presse.
06:55On est tous choqués au Canada par le comportement de Donald Trump et des Etats-Unis.
06:56Croyez-vous que l'Amérique que l'on voit aujourd'hui, c'est l'Amérique qui va s'installer pour
06:57de bon?
06:58And once again, we've been listening to Mark Carney there as he meets with Keir Starmer
07:10and faces questions from the media, and Melissa Bell joins us again.
07:13You know, what he was speaking about there, Melissa, was the fact that they're trying
07:16to diversify other procurement on the level of defence, something that will no doubt please
07:22France, given in this whole issue about rearming Europe, they want to keep more of that defence
07:27production in Europe, and now Canada also saying that, look, where once we were going
07:32to look to the US defence industry, we're going to take a very close look at the UK
07:37and Europe in terms of providing us with our defence needs.
07:43And in question particularly, Paula, of course, is this deal with Lockheed Martin.
07:47We know that the Canadians last, in 2023, had signed a deal for the purchase of 88 F-35
07:55fighter jets from the American company.
07:58We know they've paid for 16 of those, but what we heard from Mark Carney's office, even
08:02as he headed off on this European tour, was that they could well look again at that contract
08:08and reconsider the rest of those fighter jets and look towards European suppliers and specifically
08:13Sweden, one country that might fulfil part of their needs.
08:17So as I was saying, there is this will between these 37 countries now coming together to
08:23figure out Ukraine, not just to work on how they can co-operate and continue to support
08:27Dekiv, but also to figure out how they can think about their rearmament and their defence
08:33structures and their defence spending in a way that doesn't depend as heavily as it has
08:38on the United States.
08:40And going back to what I was saying a moment ago, it's specifically what Mark Carney said
08:44as he came into office, we're willing to sit down with the United States once Washington
08:48starts showing us some respect.
08:50So there is a sense that Canada is looking more towards European allies for strategic
08:56reasons and questions like procurement, without entirely ruling out, of course, the possibility
09:02of healthy bilateral talks with the United States.
09:05First though, some respect is due, and I think that was probably behind what is a very strong
09:10signal of having this first visit to Europe before even that call with Washington.
09:16It was interesting at this conference earlier with Emmanuel Macron, not just the complicity
09:20and the obvious friendship and admiration between the two men, but Mark Carney switched
09:24fairly comfortably between French and English and made very forcefully the case that this
09:29was a moment also for unity to be achieved between Canada and Europe in a way that had
09:35not been sought as specifically as it is now.
09:38So a very obvious reaction to what's been said over the last few weeks by President
09:43Trump's administration, said and done, since, of course, there is the question of the tariffs.
09:50But it is certainly to a friendly audience that the new prime minister now turns, Paula.
09:55Absolutely.
09:56And he is noted often, as has his cabinet, about the historical ties to France.
10:01Melissa Bell, grateful to have you with us as we continue to watch that live press conference.
10:05Appreciate it.