(Bloomberg) — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the world can make progress on a range of issues without the US, and that consensus reached at a Group of 20 leaders’ meeting in Johannesburg this weekend carries weight despite a boycott by President Donald Trump’s administration.
South Africa, the G-20 host this year, defied the US by releasing a declaration from the meeting. Trump ordered the stayaway after repeating a debunked claim that White Afrikaner farmers in South Africa are being subjected to a genocide, and Washington said only a chairman’s summary could be released from the gathering in the absence of the US.
The summit “brought together nations representing three-quarters of the world’s population, two-thirds of global GDP and three-quarters of the world’s trade, and that’s without the United States formally attending,” Carney told a press conference in Johannesburg on Sunday. “It’s a reminder that the center of gravity in the global economy is shifting.”
Carney took office earlier this year after running a campaign that pushed back against Trump’s imposition of tariffs on its northern neighbor and suggestions it could become part of US territory. Carney has focused on reducing the Canadian economy’s reliance on the US.
At the press conference, he detailed his attempts to strengthen ties with nations ranging from South Africa to India and China.
After a Nov. 20 meeting in Abu Dhabi with United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, the Gulf country committed to investing $70 billion in Canada, Carney said, without providing details. That’s the biggest investment pledge Canada has ever received.
“We’re signing new deals and finding new investors to fuel our plans for Canada’s economic ambition,” he said. ‘We’ll expand trade and catalyze investment in increased partnerships across a range of areas from AI to energy in the Indo-Pacific and Europe.”
Carney said he is due to meet with Narendra Modi, India’s leader, in Johannesburg later on Sunday and they are working on improving strained relations. In 2023, Canada said Indian agents may have been involved in assassinating a Canadian citizen of Indian origin on its soil — an allegation New Delhi rejected.
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Carney emphasized that he won’t have his agenda dictated by Trump.
“I’ll speak to him again when it matters,” he said. “I don’t have a burning issue to speak with the president about right now. When America wants to come back and have the discussions on the trade side, we will have those discussions.”