OTTAWA, Jan 26 - U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told viewers on Fox News' "Hannity" program that Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney used a conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday to retract certain observations he had delivered during a recent speech in Davos.
"I was in the Oval with the President today. He spoke to Prime Minister Carney, who was very aggressively walking back some of the unfortunate remarks he made at Davos," Bessent said on air.
According to Bessent's account, Carney had received a rare standing ovation for the Davos speech in which he called on nations to acknowledge that the era of a rules-based global order had ended. Bessent's comments indicate that, during the Oval Office exchange, Carney sought to retract or clarify portions of that message.
Carney's office did not immediately reply to a request for comment late on Monday, leaving the specifics of what was said in the call and the nature of any formal clarification unclear.
The sequence of events as described by Bessent establishes three clear elements: the original speech in Davos and its positive reception by that audience, the subsequent telephone conversation between Carney and the U.S. president, and Bessent's public statement characterizing Carney's posture during that call as an aggressive walk-back.
Beyond Bessent's account, further details about the content of Carney's retraction or the motivations behind it were not provided in the remarks aired on the program. The absence of an immediate response from Carney's office means there is no on-the-record clarification available from the prime minister's team as of late Monday.
Reporters and observers therefore must rely on the Treasury secretary's description for an initial account of the exchange, while noting that official comment from the Canadian side remains pending.
Clear summary: U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Prime Minister Mark Carney, in a call with President Trump, aggressively walked back comments he made at Davos, where he had urged nations to accept the end of a rules-based global order and received a standing ovation. Carney's office had not responded to a request for comment late on Monday.