By Jasper Ward and Ismail Shakil
WASHINGTON/OTTAWA, Jan 22 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew on Thursday an invitation for Canada to join his Board of Peace initiative aimed at resolving global conflicts.
Trump’s aboutface follows Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he openly decried powerful nations using economic integration as weapons and tariffs as leverage.
“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 Carney.
Neither Carney’s office nor the White House immediately responded to Reuters requests for comment on Thursday evening.
Last week, Carney’s office said he had been invited to serve on the board and planned to accept.
Carney received a rare standing ovation in Davos after the speech, in which he urged nations to accept the end of a rules-based global order.
Canada, which recently signed a trade deal with China, can show how “middle powers” might act together to avoid being victimized by American hegemony, he added.
Trump retorted that Canada “lives because of the United States,” and told listeners in Davos that Carney should be grateful for the United States’ previous largesse.
“Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements,” he added, addressing Carney directly.
The withdrawal of Canada’s invitation came hours after Trump officially launched the board, which was initially meant to cement a Gaza ceasefire.
Permanent members must help fund the board with a payment of $1 billion each, according to Trump.
“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 United Nations Security Council resolution as part of Trump’s Gaza peace plan, and U.N. spokesperson Rolando Gomez said on Thursday that U.N. engagement with the board would only be in that context.
Member nations include Argentina, Bahrain, Morocco, Pakistan and Turkey. Other U.S. allies, such as Britain, France and Italy, have indicated they will not join for now.
(Reporting by Jasper Ward in Washington and Ismail Shakil in Ottawa; Additional reporting by Kanishka Singh; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman, Sergio Non and Clarence Fernandez)
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