Davos, Switzerland - In a remarkable speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney declared an end to the "fiction" of the so-called international rules-based ordered imposed by the US.

Amid multiple crises unleashed by the US under President Donald Trump, Carney said that the global system of governance is "in the midst of a rupture, not a transition."

Tracing the history of post-World War II relations, the former banker acknowledged the hypocrisy inherent in an arrangement that benefited Canada.

"We knew the story of the international rules-based order was partially false that the strongest would exempt themselves when convenient, that trade rules were enforced asymmetrically," he said. "And we knew that international law applied with varying rigor depending on the identity of the accused or the victim."

Canada Canadian entries into US sharply fall in 2025 amid Trump tariffs and 51st state threats

Declaring that "fiction" over, Carney outlined how "great powers have begun using economic integration as weapons, tariffs as leverage, financial infrastructure as coercion, supply chains as vulnerabilities to be exploited."

He also decried the attacks on "multilateral institutions on which the middle powers have relied," and called for countries squeezed between these new poles to "act together – because if we're not at the table, we're on the menu."

The comments come at a time when Trump is threatening to annex Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, while also at times floating the idea of Canada becoming the 51st US state.

Carney joined European nations in offering solidarity and support to Greenland and Denmark, who have "the unique right to determine" the island's future.