Should Canada have warned the U.S. about recognizing Palestinian statehood?
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Carney clearly mentioned speaking this week with France President Emmanuel Macron and U.K. Prime Minister Kier Starmer — both of which have announced their intention to recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly in September.
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Carney said he also had conversations with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and Canada's Ambassador to the UN, Bob Rae.
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U.S. President Donald Trump was apparently not given the same heads up, and he promptly expressed his displeasure on his social media platform hours later.
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'Wow! Canada has just announced that it is backing statehood for Palestine,' he wrote on Truth Social. 'That will make it very hard for us to make a Trade Deal with them. Oh' Canada!!!'
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After meeting with his cabinet Wednesday, Carney told reporters that the recognition was conditional on the Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank, going forward with significant reforms which include demilitarization and holding a general election in 2026.
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He added Canada's longstanding hope for a two-state solution negotiated between the Palestinian Authority and Israel was 'no longer tenable' because of the war in Gaza.
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Carney called the U.S. an 'essential partner' for peace in the Middle East, among many areas of the world, but made it clear Canada would be moving without its neighbour.
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'We make our own independent foreign policy positions,' he said, later clarifying 'independent of the United States.'
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Louise Blais, who was Canada's Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York from 2017-2021, said this announcement marks a significant change of position for Canada, which has been more or less aligned with the U.S. on Israel for years.
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'At minimum, I think it would have been prudent … to have had a conversation. It's possible it took place. But it certainly doesn't seem that way,' said Blais in an interview.
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A source close to Carney's thinking, speaking on a not-for-attribution basis to speak more freely, said there has been a sharing of views between Canada, France and the U.K., but their subsequent announcements on Palestinian statehood were not a co-ordinated effort.
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