TORONTO, Jan 28, (AP): Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday he told US President Donald Trump that he meant what he said in his speech at Davos, and told him Canada plans to diversify away from the United States with a dozen new trade deals. Carney rolled his eyes and rejected US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s contention to Fox News that he aggressively walked back his comments at the World Economic Forum during a phone call with Trump on Monday.

"To be absolutely clear, and I said this to the president, I meant what I said in Davos,” Carney said to reporters as he arrived for a Cabinet meeting in the capital, Ottawa. "Canada was the first country to understand the change in US trade policy that he initiated, and we’re responding to that. ” In Davos at the World Economic Forum last week, Carney condemned economic coercion by great powers on smaller countries without mentioning Trump’s name.

The prime minister received widespread praise and attention for his remarks, upstaging Trump at the gathering. "The world has changed, Washington has changed. There is almost nothing normal in the US now and that’s the truth,” Carney said in French in Parliament on Tuesday. Trump threatened this past weekend to impose a 100% tariff on goods imported from Canada if America’s northern neighbor went ahead with a trade deal with Beijing, though Carney has said Canada has no interest in negotiating a comprehensive trade deal with Beijing.

Carney said Trump called him and that they spoke for a half hour. "I explained to him our arrangement with China. I explained to him what we’re doing - 12 new deals, four continents, in six months,” Carney said. "He was impressed.” Trump’s threat came amid an escalating war of words with Carney. The Republican president’s push to acquire Greenland strained the NATO alliance, alarming Canada, which shares a 3,000-kilometer (1,864 mile) maritime border with Greenland in the Arctic.

Trump has also previously talked about making Canada the 51st state. Carney has said his recent agreement with China merely cuts tariffs that were recently imposed on a few sectors. The prime minister plans to travel to India, Australia and other countries in an effort to diversify trade away from dependence on the U.S., which takes more than 75% of Canada's exports. The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement is up for renewal this year. Carney has set a goal for Canada to double its non-US exports in the next decade.