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UNITED NATIONS — <\/span>For years, Canada<\/a> was a trouper in the drama of international affairs. An adept and experienced contributor, it didn’t often draw the spotlight when world leaders gathered at the U.N. each September. <\/p>\n This year, the nation of 41 million has a new posture on the planet’s biggest diplomatic stage. <\/p>\n Since a watershed speech<\/a> to the World Economic Forum in January, Prime Minister Mark Carney has become a leading voice of what he and some others call \u201cmiddle powers.\u201d He has urged them to band together to update and preserve the international order, and protect their own interests, in an era of flexes by the United States and other global giants. <\/p>\n And he has shown himself willing to walk the walk when faced with U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s tariff’s.<\/a>insults<\/a> and cavalier talk of annexation<\/a>. Carney rejected what he said were unacceptable U.S. trade demands and walked away from talks<\/a> last month. Bluntly hedging his country’s decades-long bet on U.S. trade<\/a> and partnership, he has been courting other prospects \u2014 Canada might even become the European Union’s first associate member<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cPartners are working with Canada because Canada\u2019s predictable, reliable and principled in a world that\u2019s anything but,\u201d Carney told Canadian media at a news conference at the U.N. Tuesday as the General Assembly’s big meeting got into full swing. <\/p>\n It’s the international community’s premier gathering of the year. And to Carney, it’s an opportunity to demonstrate Canada’s vision of \u201cvalues-based realism\u201d that’s \u201cboth principled and pragmatic\u201d \u2014 part commitment to such values as freedom, human rights and sustainability, part clear-eyed, \u201ccalibrated alliances\u201d with partners that won’t sign onto the whole list. <\/p>\n That’s frankly practical talk for a forum that’s prone to either diplomatic caution or soaring rhetoric, be it doomsaying, idealistic or, often, both. And Carney is finding an ear. <\/p>\n Canada and a half-dozen other countries launched a new group Monday meant to stand up for economic cooperation and U.N.-style international collaboration. An air traffic control mess<\/a> at New York airports kept Carney from making it to the \u201cpartners for multilateralism\u201d kickoff event at the U.N. Monday night, but his schedule Tuesday included personal meetings with Jordan’s king, the presidents of Chile and Angola, and an Emirati cabinet minister. <\/p>\n He also co-hosted a meeting on the long-elusive two-state solution<\/a> to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and pledged 100 million Canadian dollars ($71 million) in humanitarian and security funding for Palestinians. Canada last year joined<\/a> more than 150 countries that have recognized a Palestinian state, over the objections of Israel and its key ally, the U.S. <\/p>\n Asked whether he interacted Tuesday with Trump or members of his administration, Carney replied that he saw the huge meeting of world leaders as a chance to \u201cmeet those whom you don\u2019t normally see.\u201d He did attend Trump’s speech<\/a> at the assembly, where the president made no mention of Canada \u2014 the country on the other side of the world\u2019s longest international border, and now on the other end of a deepening trade war. <\/p>\n After speaking Wednesday at a U.N. meeting about oceans, Carney heads back to Canada for other commitments. Foreign Minister Anita Anand is set to deliver the country’s U.N. speech Saturday. <\/p>\n She said in an interview<\/a> Tuesday that the address \u201cwill be very much about implementing the middle power strategy\u201d that Carney has articulated \u2014 memorably when he told the World Economic Forum that as great power rivalries increasingly shake the international system, \u201cmiddle powers must act together, because if we\u2019re not at the table, we\u2019re on the menu.\u201d (There\u2019s no official list of \u201cmiddle powers,\u201d but the term is often understood to mean countries that aren\u2019t superpowers or their proxies but have some sway in global politics due to diplomatic or other strengths.)<\/p>\n Carney’s \u201cmessage resonates with many audiences, particularly those in the global North,\u201d says University of Ottawa international affairs professor Srdjan Vucetic. <\/p>\n He noted that the prime minister’s leadership is resonating at home, too. Carney, who took office in March 2025<\/a>, enjoys high approval ratings from Canadians. Many are galled by Trump’s remarks about making their country the U.S.’s \u201c51st state,\u201d<\/a> his insistence on referring to Lake Ontario as \u201cLake America\u201d<\/a> and his trade policies<\/a>. In Toronto, Canada\u2019s most populous city, some neighborhoods are dotted with lawn signs encouraging eligible U.S. expatriates to vote absentee, and at least one coffee shop has crossed the Americano drink off its menu, substituting \u201cCanadiano\u201d instead. <\/p>\n 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 firm executives<\/a> for a Canadian investment summit last week and is hoping for a trade deal with India,<\/a> among others, by year\u2019s end. <\/p>\n His government has touted security, defense and economic agreements with a roster of countries over the past year, and he has envisioned Canada as potentially forging an economic bridge of sorts between the EU and Pacific Rim countries. <\/p>\n His international efforts have drawn some questions<\/a>, as when he became the first Canadian prime minister in over a quarter-century to visit Saudi Arabia<\/a>. Predecessor Justin Trudeau’s government had assailed Saudi Arabia\u2019s human rights record, spurring a five-year diplomatic split. The two countries restored full diplomatic relations in 2023. <\/p>\n Carney said at the time of the July visit that he cares deeply about human rights, that there’s no point in \u201clecturing countries from afar,\u201d and that engaging with them doesn’t convey approval of their every move. <\/p>\n At his U.N. news conference Tuesday, he said his approach \u201cmeans actively, actively taking on the world as it is, not passively waiting for a world we wish to be.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a strategy that, I believe, has already made our country stronger,\u201d he added, \u201cbut we\u2019ve only just begun.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n