U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent escalated his war of words with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Wednesday, urging the former central banker to “do what he thinks is best for the Canadian people, not his own virtue signaling,” as he recounted a tense post-Davos exchange, with fallout mounting from Carney’s remarkable speech at the World Economic Forum meeting about a “rupture” in the world order.
Speaking in Washington, D.C., with CNBC’s Sara Eisen in a Squawk on the Street interview on the sidelines of the administration’s Trump Accounts Summit, Bessent said he was a participant on the follow-up call after Davos between Carney and President Donald Trump. This talk has been portrayed very differently in Ottawa and Washington, with Carney suggesting he “dug in” and reinforced his message to Trump, while Bessent contends the Canadian leader “walked back” what he said onstage in Davos.
