Carney sells Canada to global investors but says US ties still key

Prime Minister Mark Carney pitched Canada as an investment haven Tuesday at a gathering of global financial elite, but conceded ties with the United States remained crucial despite an escalating trade war.

Carney convened the Canada Investment Summit as part of his push to diversify an economy he insists had grown too reliant on an increasingly protectionist United States.

The guest list for the event in Toronto included representatives of Gulf investment agencies and major European banks, as well as Africa's richest man, Nigerian tycoon Aliko Dangote, along with US investors.

"Our goal is to catalyze CAN$1 trillion (US$720 billion) of investment in Canada over the next five years," Carney told the event, promising tax incentives and reduced bureaucracy to make the country more attractive to foreign capital.

Carney said Canada had the reserves of critical minerals and clean energy that the world needs, calling these sectors the keys to "strategic autonomy."

He particularly highlighted plans to build a new pipeline to the Pacific coast "that would carry at least one million barrels of low-emission Alberta oil per day to Asian markets."

"We are unleashing our full potential as an energy superpower," the prime minister said.

But in his opening address, hours after Trump imposed new tariffs on certain Canadian goods, Carney offered an optimistic view of future relations with the United States.

"To our American friends, let me say this: We will always be neighbors, and Canada will continue to be the US's most important partner in many key areas," he said.

He said the two countries had always maintained close ties, "even at times of disagreement."

"These arrangements work when we engage as true partners that respect each other's traditions and sovereignty," Carney told attendees at a luxury hotel in central Toronto.

"When those opportunities return, Canada will be an even better partner, stronger, more resilient, more independent," he said.

The Canadian leader, a former investment banker who previously led the central banks of Canada and England, also revived themes he articulated in a high-profile address to the World Economic Forum in January -- a speech that drew a direct rebuke from Trump.

"Sovereignty and openness are now in tension. Economic integration is being weaponized. Tariffs are used as leverage," he said on Tuesday, adding that supply chains are now used as "vulnerabilities to be exploited."

Speaking to reporters after his address, Carney was asked about his conciliatory tone toward the United States after saying last month that any deal signed with the US would be written in "pencil," deriding the trustworthiness of the Trump administration.

Carney said he continues to believe that a "mutually beneficial trade deal is possible" with Washington. "Canada continues to stand ready to develop that and pursue it," he said.

Later Tuesday, Carney was to fly to Strasbourg, France, where he will become the first head of government to attend the State of the European Union address.

Closer ties with the EU are at the core of Canada's strategy to pivot away from reliance on the United States.

Carney has said he is seeking a "unique alliance" with the bloc and was pressed Tuesday for details on what that might include.

He said Canada and the EU intend to hammer out their future relationship at a summit next month in Montreal.

It's crucial for Canada to be "connected to partners on which we can rely," Carney said.