President Donald Trump has revoked his invitation to Canada to join the Board of Peace that was established at the World Economic Forum summit in Davos, Switzerland.
Trump made the surprise announcement in a brief “letter” posted on Truth Social late Thursday.
“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,” he wrote to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
The president did not elaborate on what influenced his decision to revoke the offer, but it likely stemmed from Carney’s defiant speech at the Davos summit earlier in the day.
“Canada and the United States have built a remarkable partnership in the economy, in security, and in rich cultural exchange,” Carney said while speaking from Quebec City. “But Canada doesn’t live because of the United States. Canada thrives because we are Canadian.”
The prime minister’s statement came in response to Trump’s words from the day before.
“Canada gets a lot of freebies from us. By the way, they should be grateful also, but they’re not,” Trump said. “I watched your prime minister yesterday. He wasn’t so grateful — they should be grateful to us, Canada. Canada lives because of the United States. Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements.”
Adding further fuel to the strained tensions between the United States and Canada is Trump’s rhetoric about acquiring Greenland, either forcibly or diplomatically. The Danish territory was a major topic of conversation between Trump and European leaders. Trump promised more details about a possible deal involving Greenland in the next two weeks.
Trump has also suggested that Canada become the 51st state of the U.S., a prospect that irks Carney.
Besides Canada, Trump has been critical of the NATO alliance. Despite finding some common ground on Greenland, Trump argued NATO should have perhaps sent its forces to protect the southern border from illegal immigrants.
“Maybe we should have put NATO to the test,” he wrote on Truth Social. “Invoked Article 5, and forced NATO to come here and protect our Southern Border from further Invasions of Illegal Immigrants, thus freeing up large numbers of Border Patrol Agents for other tasks.”
Canada was one of many nations that received Trump’s invitation to join his Board of Peace. Carney previously said he agreed with the invitation in principle, but he remained hesitant to accept due to the mandatory $1 billion fee to become a permanent member.
TRUMP SINGLES OUT ‘UNGRATEFUL’ MARK CARNEY DURING DAVOS SPEECH
Trump formally unveiled the Board of Peace at a Thursday morning signing ceremony in Davos. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Argentine President Javier Milei were among the 19 world leaders present for the signing of the board’s founding charter. Carney departed before the event.
With Trump as its chairman, the Board of Peace is primarily designed to oversee the transition of power in post-war Gaza from Hamas to a Palestinian technocratic committee. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepted Trump’s offer to join the board, but he was notably absent from the signing ceremony. No Israeli representatives were present either.