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.
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South Africa, the G20 host this year, defied the US by releasing a declaration from the meeting. Trump ordered the stay away 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 centre 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 neighbour and threats of annexation. 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.
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