Jim Chalmers says Canadian PM’s ‘stunning’ denunciation of Trump is being widely discussed in Australian government

Guardian:

Jim Chalmers says Canadian PM’s ‘stunning’ denunciation of Trump is being widely discussed in Australian government

Treasurer joins former PM Malcom Turnbull in praising Mark Carney’s comments at the World Economic Forum gathering in Davos

Patrick Commins Economics editor

Thu 22 Jan 2026 13.39 AEDT



Jim Chalmers has described the Canadian prime minister’s passionate denunciation of Donald Trump’s assault on the global rules-based order as a “stunning speech” that was being “widely shared and discussed” inside the government.

At this week’s annual gathering at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Mark Carney said “we are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition”.


Speaking before the US president’s backdown on his threats to take control of Greenland by any means necessary, Carney told assembled leaders it was time to recognise the “brutal reality where geopolitics among the great powers is not subject to any constraints”.

“Stop invoking rules-based international order as though it still functions as advertised,” he said.

“Call it what it is: a system of intensifying great power rivalry where the most powerful pursue their interests using economic integration as coercion.”

As former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull called on Anthony Albanese to revisit the “terrible” Aukus submarine deal, the treasurer on Thursday morning said Carney had delivered “a stunning speech”.

“I thought it was very impactful, very thoughtful; certainly widely shared and discussed in our government,” Chalmers told ABC radio.

“The powerful point that he made is that a lot of the old certainties are breaking down. We see that in escalating trade tensions, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, discussions in Nato, you see it in behaviour on markets.

“So for Australia, and no doubt for Canada, the point that prime minister Carney was making is that our interests are best served by cooperation and by managing our differences within international law and international institutions.”

Canada’s prime minister Mark Carney speaks during the annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, 20 January, 2026. Photograph: Denis Balibouse/Reuters


Turnbull, who as prime minister had his own run-ins with the volatile American president during his first term, called on Albanese to deliver a similar message.

“Anthony Albanese should give the same speech because basically the message is: we will not be bullied, we will maintain our sovereignty. And as a middle power, we will work with other middle powers to stand up to the bully,” he said.

Turnbull told ABC radio that anyone who has been “paying attention to what’s happening in the world” would know the Canadian PM was right.

“If you are integrated with the United States economically or you are dependent on the United States, Trump will use that as a vulnerability and exploit it,” Turnbull said.

At the very start of Trump’s first term, the former PM in a famously tense phone call pushed Trump to honour an Obama-era deal to resettle refugees detained on Nauru.

“I took the view when I was PM, as you know, to stand up to Trump, and it worked very well,” he said.

“The only way to deal with bullies is to stand up to them.”