At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Prime Minister Mark Carney urged middle powers to unite against coercion from aggressive superpowers, warning “compliance will not buy safety” in a world where the rules-based international order has collapsed.
Canada’s Prime Minister said the world is entering a new era. “The old order is not coming back. We should not mourn it. Nostalgia is not a strategy,” he said. “But from the fracture, we can build something better, stronger and more just.” PM Carney cautioned countries are tempted to accommodate powerful states to avoid conflict, but will do so in vain. “There is a strong tendency for countries to go along to get along. To accommodate. To avoid trouble. To hope that compliance will buy safety,” he said. “It won’t.”
As the world faces an increasingly aggressive US, Prime Minister Carney counselled governments not to succumb to coercion by global “hegemons”. “Stop invoking the ‘rules-based international order’ as though it still functions as advertised,” PM Carney cautioned. “Call the system what it is: a period where the most powerful pursue their interests, using economic integration as a weapon of coercion.”
Transcript: January 20, 2026, Davos, Switzerland: “Principled and pragmatic: Canada’s path” Prime Minister Mark Carney addresses the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting https://www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/speeches/2026/01/20/principled-and-pragmatic-canadas-path-prime-minister-carney-addresses