Welcome back to This Week in Canada, where Mark Carney’s tough talk in Davos feels like a distant memory, our newspaper of record finally did the right thing, and thousands of Americans want to be just like us. Let’s jump in!
Had you fallen into a coma during Canada’s election campaign in 2025 and awakened last Thursday at the Economic Club of New York, it would be easy to conclude that Canada and the United States had settled their differences: tariffs and other trade tensions, warnings about Canada’s dependence on the U.S., and even that bombast about tuning us into merely the 51st state.
There was Canadian prime minister Mark Carney delivering what amounted to a love letter to the U.S. economy to one of America’s most influential business audiences at a venue that has hosted presidents, central bankers, CEOs, and heads of state for over a century. “The United States approaches its 250th birthday as the most dynamic, resilient, and inventive country the world has ever seen,” Carney told the audience.
This was not the sort of thing Canadian politicians have been saying lately, especially Carney. (Remember Davos?) He even offered up the idea of a North American version of MAGA. “Canada strong will help make America great again.” Call it MNAGA for Make North America Great Again.
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Pete Hoekstra, the U.S. ambassador to Canada, liked that line, writing on X that “a lot of Americans can get behind that kind of positive message.”
Why would Carney talk like this? The former central banker was speaking directly to people who decide where capital flows—and making the case that Canada is a good place to invest. He met executives from BlackRock, Blackstone, Morgan Stanley, Netflix, and others. He explained that Canada needs to diversify its economic relationships and reduce its vulnerabilities—and that American investors should invest more money in Canada.
Carney pointed out that Canada buys more American goods than China, Japan, and Germany combined. Seventy percent of Canadian exports are inputs for American products, and Canada supplies 99 percent of U.S. natural gas imports, 85 percent of its electricity imports, and 60 percent of its crude oil imports.
