Mark Carney's speech at the World Economic Forum last week was widely praised by those critical of U.S. President Donald Trump's agenda. “The old order is not coming back,” the prime minister said, suggesting the “rules-based international order” formed in the aftermath of the Second World War had ended.

Michael Kovrig, a former Canadian diplomat who was detained by China between 2018 and 2021, called Carney's address “the best speech by a world leader that I have read in a very long time.” 

But with Carney and Trump returning home from the annual Swiss summit, the pair spoke again.

On Tuesday's Rebel Roundup livestream, hosts Sheila Gunn Reid and Lise Merle weighed in after Carney and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent shared differing views of the follow-up phone call between the PM and president.

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“It's real easy to talk tough about Trump when he's not able to respond in person, and that's exactly what Carney did,” said Lise, calling it a cowardly move.

“What a duplicitous man,” added Sheila, suggesting she was “more inclined to believe” Bessent's account of the Trump-Carney conversation, who asserted the PM “was very aggressively walking back some of the unfortunate remarks he made.”

Sheila suggested that “when a politician has to preface their meeting by saying it was cordial, you just absolutely know it was anything but” and that Canada's trade talks with China could jeopardize the upcoming USMCA renegotiation.