Donald Trump withdrew on Thursday an invitation for Canada to join his “board of peace” initiative aimed at resolving global conflicts.
“Please let this Letter serve to represent that the Board of Peace is withdrawing its invitation to you regarding Canada’s joining, what will be, the most prestigious Board of Leaders ever assembled, at any time,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post directed at the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney.
Trump launched his “board of peace” initiative at the World Economic Forum in Davos, claiming it would be “one of the most consequential bodies ever created in the history of the world”. The board, which will be chaired by Trump, was originally described as a temporary body to oversee the governance and reconstruction of Gaza.
Permanent members must help fund the board with a payment of $1bn each, according to Trump.
While the leaders of many liberal democracies declined to sign on to Trump’s new international organization, Carney had, before Davos, accepted in principle, though he said on Sunday his officials had not yet gone through “all the details of the structure, how it’s going to work, what the financing is for, etcetera”.
“Canada wants money to have maximum impact,” Carney told reporters.
Canada’s finance minister, François-Philippe Champagne, then said on Tuesday that the Canadians did not plan to pay the $1bn countries were asked to hand over to Trump for a permanent seat on the board that was originally described as a temporary body to oversee the governance and reconstruction of Gaza.
In a frank address to world leaders at Davos on Tuesday, Carney described what he called “a rupture” in the previous “rules-based” world order overseen by the United States caused by Trump’s aggressive behavior.
When he arrived in Davos, Trump made it clear that he had heard or at least heard of Carney’s viral speech.
“Canada lives because of the United States,” Trump said in his own address on Wednesday. “Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements.”
“Canada doesn’t live because of the United States,” Carney responded on Thursday. “Canada thrives because we are Canadian.”
Neither Carney’s office nor the White House immediately responded to Reuters requests for comment on Thursday evening.
“Once this board is completely formed, we can do pretty much whatever we want to do,” Trump said in Switzerland on Thursday. “And we’ll do it in conjunction with the United Nations.”
The board’s establishment was endorsed by a UN security council resolution as part of Trump’s Gaza peace plan, and a UN spokesperson, Rolando Gomez, said on Thursday that UN engagement with the board would only be in that context.
Member nations include Argentina, Bahrain, Morocco, Pakistan and Turkey. Other US allies, such as Britain, France and Italy, have indicated they will not join for now.
