Canadian PM at Davos: Old order not coming back, middle powers must unite

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday (January 20) said “the old order is not coming back” and urged middle powers, including his own country, to unite to work together to counter the rise of hard power and the great power rivalry, to build a more cooperative, resilient world.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Annual Meeting 2026 in Davos, Switzerland, Carney made a frank assessment of the international system and called out how great countries have begun using economic integration as “weapons”.

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Carney emphasised the end of the rules-based international order and outlined how Canada was adapting by building strategic autonomy while maintaining values like human rights and sovereignty.

'Rupture' in world order

In his opening remarks, he spoke about “a rupture in the world order” and “beginning of a harsh reality”. “Today I will talk about a rupture in the world order, the end of a pleasant fiction and the beginning of a harsh reality, where geopolitics, where the large, main power, geopolitics, is submitted to no limits, no constraints.”

“We know the old order is not coming back. We shouldn't mourn it. Nostalgia is not a strategy, but we believe that from the fracture, we can build something bigger, better, stronger, more just. This is the task of the middle powers, the countries that have the most to lose from a world of fortresses and most to gain from genuine cooperation,” Carney said.

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“The middle powers must act together, because if we're not at the table, we're on the menu. But I’d also say that great powers, great powers can afford for now to go it alone. They have the market size, the military capacity and the leverage to dictate terms. Middle powers do not,” he added.

'American hegemony'

Without mentioning US President Donald Trump, Carney also referenced “American hegemony”.

“Great powers have begun using economic integration as weapons, tariffs as leverage, financial infrastructure as coercion, supply chains as vulnerabilities to be exploited,” he said.

Further, he stated, “We knew the story of the international rules-based order was partially false that the strongest would exempt themselves when convenient, that trade rules were enforced asymmetrically. And we knew that international law applied with varying rigour depending on the identity of the accused or the victim.

“This fiction was useful, and American hegemony, in particular, helped provide public goods, open sea lanes, a stable financial system, collective security and support for frameworks for resolving disputes.”