Carney rolled his eyes at the US Treasury secretary, telling Trump what he had said in Davos

TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday he repeated what he told U.S. President Donald Trump in his speech in Davos and said Canada plans to diversify away from the United States with dozens of new trade deals.

Carney rolled his eyes and dismissed a Fox News contention by US Treasury Secretary Scott Besant that he aggressively retracted his comments at the World Economic Forum during a phone call with Trump on Monday.

“To be perfectly clear, and I told the president this, is what I said in Davos,” Carney told reporters as he arrived for a cabinet meeting in the capital, Ottawa.

“Canada was the first country to understand the shift in U.S. trade policy that he initiated, and we’re responding to that.”

At the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, Carney condemned economic pressure by big powers on smaller countries without mentioning Trump by name. The prime minister received widespread praise and attention for his comments by singling out Trump in the Assembly.

Tariff and trade agreements

Trump last weekend threatened to impose 100% tariffs on Canadian imports if a trade deal with the U.S.’s northern neighbor Beijing went ahead, although Carney has said Canada has no interest in negotiating a comprehensive trade deal with Beijing.

Carney said Trump called him.

“I explained to him our arrangement with China. I told him what we were doing — 12 new deals, four continents, in six months,” Carney said. “He was impressed.”

Trump’s threats come amid an escalating war of words with Carney. The Republican president’s push to acquire Greenland has strained the NATO alliance, worrying Canada, which shares a 3,000 km (1,864 mi) maritime border with Greenland in the Arctic. Trump had previously talked about making Canada the 51st state.

Carney has said his recent deal with China only reduces tariffs recently imposed in some areas. The prime minister plans to visit India, Australia and other countries in an effort to diversify trade away from its reliance on the U.S., which accounts for more than 75 percent of Canada’s exports.

The United States-Mexico-Canada agreement is up for renewal this year. Carney aims for Canada to double its non-US exports over the next decade.

At the table or on the menu

Carney has emerged as a spokesperson for the movement that unites the countries and opposes Trump-led America. Speaking in Davos before Trump, Carney said, “The middle powers have to work together because if you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.”

Carney said he also spoke with Trump about Ukraine, Venezuela and Arctic security in his phone call.

Besant said Carney spoke with Trump on Monday. The Treasury secretary told Fox News that Carney was “very aggressively walking back some of the unfortunate comments he made in Davos.”

“Of course, Canada depends on the US,” Besant said. “There is more north-south trade than there can be east-west trade.”

Besant said Canada is aligned with the U.S. and Carney should stop trying to “push his global agenda.”

Dominic LeBlanc, Canada’s minister responsible for Canada-US trade, compared Canada’s recent trade deal with China to the deal Trump struck with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea last summer, in which the US reduced some tariffs on China while Beijing allowed rare earth exports and curbed purchases of US soybeans.

Trump’s push to acquire Greenland comes after he repeatedly asserted Canada’s sovereignty over it and suggested it be annexed by the United States. He posted an altered photo on social media last week showing a map of the United States that includes Canada, Venezuela, Greenland and Cuba as its territories.