Trump says Carney's WEF speech portrays Canada ungrateful to US

During his speech in Davos, Switzerland Donald Trump took at dig at Canada and its prime minister, Mark Carney.

The previous day, Carney delivered a stirring speech during which he noted a new world order and called on the "middle powers" to unite and resist the bullying of bigger powers.

Trump, however, said Canada survives only because of the US, and Carney's speech shows that Ottawa is ungrateful.

Some commentators believe Mark Carney's rallying speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland will one day be taught in history classes.

The Canadian prime minister, sometimes quoting philosophers and leaders of the past, stirred the audience in Davos, where he said middle powers for too long bent to the will of superpowers from a position of "weakness".

"It seems that every day we're reminded that we live in an era of great power rivalry, that the rules-based order is fading, that the strong can do what they can and the weak must suffer what they must," Carney said during his speech. "Let me be direct. We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition.

"(I) argue the middle powers must act together because if we're not at the table, we're on the menu. But when we only negotiate bilaterally with a hegemon, we negotiate from weakness.

"This is not sovereignty. It's the performance of sovereignty while accepting subordination."

Trump, though, was not impressed. He talked about Canada while mentioning the potential deal with NATO over Greenland's future security, advising Carney to remember how much the US has done for Canada.

"We're building a 'Golden Dome' (over Greenland) that's going to, just by its very nature, going to be defending Canada," said Trump. "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. But they should be grateful to us, Canada. Canada lives because of the United States. Remember that Mark, the next time you make your statements."