THE WALRUS: IN HIS RAMBLING DAVOS SPEECH, TRUMP CALLS CANADA "UNGRATEFUL" 

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Current Affairs

In His Rambling Davos Speech, Trump Calls Canada “Ungrateful”

The president’s grievance tour rolls on 

Photo: Trump at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. (Laurent Gillieron/Keystone via AP) / Vigriste at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.  (Kumari Vaim / MEEZ via ELFH )

by Wesley WarkUpdated 14:40, Jan. 22, 2026 | Published 13:16, Jan. 22, 2026  

It was President Donald Trump’s day at Davos yesterday. His speech was a long one. He looked tired. His flight had been delayed.

The early going was dedicated to a lengthy self-promotion of the United States’ Trumpian economy. Among the self-plaudits was a zinger about how, thanks to his “landslide” election victory and his energy policies, the US had avoided the “Green New Scam,” what he called “perhaps the greatest hoax in history.” 

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Maybe the Greenland takeover threat is about to vanish in a puff of smoke, the White House map pulled down and banished to a cupboard. Even if it does, Trump’s policy has done lasting damage to trust in the US as a responsible ally and global power. Even if Greenland ceases to be on the menu, the fear will persist that Canada is next.

Trump at Davos was a study in free association and belligerent non-restraint. He can’t resist throwing a punch. One was aimed at Prime Minister Mark Carney’s chin, thrust out in a memorable speech at Davos the previous day. Carney never once mentioned Trump or the US directly in his speech. He didn’t need to. Carney’s song, not quite dirge, was a tale of the fracturing of the old order, the rise of great powers wreaking havoc on global rules, institutions and principles, the use of economic coercion by the strong against the weak. He reminded his listeners of the Melian dialogue from Thucydides’s History of the Peloponnesian War, that “the strong do what they can, and the weak suffer what they must.” It was a classy speech, and it drew a rare standing ovation.

To avoid the fate of a middle power finding itself on the menu, Carney proposed economic strength at home and new trading and security coalitions abroad. He called it a diplomacy of “variable geometry.” He warned against the creation of fortresses, warned against nostalgia for the old order, warned against a weary temptation to go along with it all (repurposing a Stephen Harper phrase), argued for realism—quoting Václav Havel—and ended with a vision of Canada as a country that has what the world needs. He also suggested that Canada could be a model for what the world wants to be, its better angel.

Sounds like a challenge to Trump.

Trump couldn’t resist a counter-jab. He rolled out his usual story of grievance. Canada gets a lot of “freebies,” he said. It should be “grateful.” Canada needs to remember that it “lives because of us.” He urged “Mark” to remember that when he makes his next speech. Trump probably meant it all in Truth Social caps: “BE MORE GRATEFUL.” Where have we heard this before? We were being Zelenskyyed.

What was Trump’s departing line to the Davos crowd, who shamelessly stampeded in to see him, pushing hapless Swiss catering staff aside?

“I’ll see you around.”

Alas, too true.

Adapted from “Trump goes on and on” by Wesley Wark (Substack). Reprinted with permission of the author.