Canada Steps Into UN Spotlight as Carney Champions 'Middle Powers'

Canada has long been a steady but unassuming presence at the United Nations, rarely commanding the spotlight when world leaders gather each September. This year, the country of 41 million has adopted a different posture on the global diplomatic stage.

Since a pivotal speech at the World Economic Forum in January, Prime Minister Mark Carney has emerged as a leading advocate for what he calls "middle powers." He has called on these nations to unite in updating and preserving the international order and protecting their own interests amid assertive moves by the United States and other major powers.

Carney has backed that rhetoric with action. Faced with U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs, insults and talk of annexation, he rejected what he described as unacceptable American trade demands and walked away from talks last month. He has also begun hedging Canada's decades-long reliance on U.S. trade, courting alternatives — including the possibility of Canada becoming the European Union's first associate member.

"Partners are working with Canada because Canada's predictable, reliable and principled in a world that's anything but," Carney told Canadian media at a UN news conference Tuesday.

To Carney, the General Assembly's annual high-level meeting is a chance to showcase a vision of "values-based realism" — a blend of commitment to freedom, human rights and sustainability with pragmatic, "calibrated alliances" with partners who may not share every value.

On Monday, Canada and six other countries launched a new group aimed at defending economic cooperation and UN-style international collaboration. An air traffic control disruption at New York airports prevented Carney from attending the "partners for multilateralism" kickoff, but his Tuesday schedule included meetings with Jordan's king, the presidents of Chile and Angola, and an Emirati cabinet minister.

He also co-hosted a meeting on the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and pledged 100 million Canadian dollars ($71 million) in humanitarian and security funding for Palestinians. Canada recognized a Palestinian state last year, joining more than 150 countries and drawing objections from Israel and its key ally, the United States.

Asked whether he had interacted with Trump or his administration on Tuesday, Carney said he viewed the gathering as a chance to "meet those whom you don't normally see." He attended Trump's speech, in which the president made no mention of Canada — the country across the world's longest international border and now on the other side of a deepening trade war.

After speaking Wednesday at a UN meeting on oceans, Carney returns to Canada for other commitments. Foreign Minister Anita Anand is set to deliver the country's UN address Saturday. She said the speech "will be very much about implementing the middle power strategy" Carney has articulated — most memorably when he told the World Economic Forum that "middle powers must act together, because if we're not at the table, we're on the menu."

There is no official list of middle powers, but the term generally refers to countries that are neither superpowers nor their proxies yet wield some influence in global politics through diplomatic or other strengths.

Carney's message "resonates with many audiences, particularly those in the global North," said Srdjan Vucetic, a professor of international affairs at the University of Ottawa. He noted that the prime minister's leadership is also resonating at home. Carney, who took office in March 2025, enjoys high approval ratings. Many Canadians are angered by Trump's remarks about making their country the "51st state," his insistence on calling Lake Ontario "Lake America," and his trade policies. In Toronto, some neighborhoods display lawn signs encouraging eligible U.S. expatriates to vote absentee, and at least one coffee shop has renamed the Americano the "Canadiano."

Carney, 61, a former central bank chief with a doctorate in economics, aims to double Canada's non-U.S. trade within a decade. He convened hundreds of international investment executives for a Canadian investment summit last week and hopes for a trade deal with India, among others, by year's end. His government has touted security, defense and economic agreements with a range of countries over the past year, and he has envisioned Canada as a potential economic bridge between the EU and Pacific Rim nations.

His international outreach has drawn some questions, including his July visit to Saudi Arabia — the first by a Canadian prime minister in over a quarter-century. Predecessor Justin Trudeau's government had criticized Saudi Arabia's human rights record, prompting a five-year diplomatic split. The two countries restored full diplomatic relations in 2023. Carney said at the time that he cares deeply about human rights, that there is no point in "lecturing countries from afar," and that engagement does not signal approval of every action.

At his UN news conference, Carney said his approach "means actively, actively taking on the world as it is, not passively waiting for a world we wish to be." He added: "We have a strategy that, I believe, has already made our country stronger, but we've only just begun."