Mark Carney

This is about whether the Fed will be able to continue to set interest rates based on evidence and economic conditions or whether instead monetary policy will be directed by political pressure or intimidation.

We understand that this rupture calls for more than adaptation.

It calls for honesty about the world as it is.

We are taking the sign out of the window.

We know the old order is not coming back.

We shouldn't mourn it.

Nostalgia is not a strategy.

But we believe that from the fracture we can build something bigger, better, stronger, more just.

This is the task of the middle powers.

The countries that have the most to lose from a world of fortresses and the most to gain from genuine cooperation.

The powerful have their power.

We have something too.

The capacity to stop.

For decades, countries like Canada prospered under what we called the rules-based international order.

We joined its institutions.

We praised its principles.

We benefited from its predictability.

And because of that, we could pursue values-based foreign policies under its protection.

We knew the story of the international rules-based order was partially false.

That the strongest would exempt themselves when convenient.