Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada may have been the odd man out, but he was also the star attraction at a meeting of the leaders of the five Nordic countries in Oslo on Sunday.
The meeting, convened by Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store of Norway, came in the aftermath of President Trump’s attacks on Canada’s sovereignty, and his suggestion that the United States take over Greenland in name of Arctic security. Although Mr. Trump seemed to have set that notion aside for the present, it was high on the leaders’ list of concerns, along with the war on Iran, which has disrupted energy markets worldwide, and Russia’s warnings regarding Ukraine.
During a news conference after the meeting at Prime Minister Store’s official residence, the leaders of Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Finland and Denmark pointedly praised Mr. Carney for his speech earlier this year at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
In those remarks, which were followed by a standing ovation, Mr. Carney said, without naming the United States or Mr. Trump, that the American administration had created an irreversible rupture to the world order, and he called upon “middle power” nations to offset the resulting turmoil through new alliances.
The most effusive praise came from Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen of Denmark, who is a fierce critic of Mr. Trump. Greenland is a semiautonomous Danish territory, and it shares with Canada the world’s longest continuous maritime border.
“The speech you gave in Davos, I have never experienced anything like this,” Ms. Frederiksen said. “I don’t think I have ever heard so many reflections on a speech from a colleague as I have heard about your speech.”
She also criticized Mr. Trump for his musings about Greenland.
“We have had a totally unacceptable pressure from the U.S. and the U.S. president,” she said. “It has been very difficult for the people in Greenland to experience this.”
Prime Minster Kristrun Frostadottir of Iceland, who like Mr. Carney is an economist who once worked in finance, also joined in the praise of the Canadian prime minister.
“There’s a lot of, not just leaders out there but also general publics, in a lot of different countries around the world, that are very thankful for the leadership Canada has shown over the past few months,” she said. “I think definitely there has been a void that has to be filled when it comes to global leadership.”
None of the leaders directly answered a question about their willingness to commit troops if a move on Greenland were made by any country, alluding instead to their commitments under NATO to provide collective security.
“We stand foursquare behind the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Mr. Carney said. “We absolutely care about that, being clear that we will back that with measures as necessary as a partner.”
The joint statement issued by the six countries after the meeting contained relatively few specifics, and was instead a general call for more coordinated action by the countries on several issues, including Arctic security.
There is already substantial cooperation between Canada and several Nordic nations. Mr. Carney arrived in Norway on Friday to visit a NATO Arctic training exercise in the country’s far north involving about 25,000 troops, including those from Canada and the United States.
On his way to Norway, Mr. Carney dropped into Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, to announce a multibillion program to build new Arctic military bases and other facilities.
Canada is considering buying submarines under a joint bid by Norway and Germany, as well as fighter jets from Sweden. It is already in an icebreaker program with Finland and the United States.
Mr. Carney leaves Norway on Sunday to continue his global alliance roadshow in Britain, where he will meet with Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Unlike his Nordic counterparts, Mr. Starmer does not share Mr. Carney’s view that the world order has undergone an everlasting rupture.
Ian Austen reports on Canada for The Times. A Windsor, Ontario, native now based in Ottawa, he has reported on the country for two decades. He can be reached at [email protected].
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