Thoughtful Money with Adam Taggart · Tuesday, September 22, 2026
Jonathan Wellum expresses concern over Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's attempts to strengthen ties with China, advocating for an arm's-length approach. He also notes Carney's discussions about potentially becoming an associate member of the EU, suggesting it might be a strategic move to gain leverage in negotiations with the U.S.
“Right. And what I'm going to say now is that this is one of the challenges to that doctrine right now, given the current leadership in Canada, which is a liberal government, which is, I mean, similar to your democratic government in the United States, the Democratic Party. What Mark Carney, our prime minister, is doing, of course, which is really irritating the United States, and I think rightly so.”
“So he's been trying to warm up to China, and we do not need to warm up to China. We should be keeping arm's length, being very careful with China. I mean, the president of China is coming to the United States the next couple of days, and of course there are going to be trading arrangements, and you have to get along with them. But you don't want them too close. Carney's been really trying to cozy up to them and have them too close, and I think that concerns the U.S.”
“And I think you can understand that from a negotiating standpoint, like maybe internally, I don't really plan to do this, but I just need to have some sort of leverage with the big superpower to the south. So if I threaten to cozy up with one of its other major trading blocks, that gives me something to concede if the US is going to give me an offer to not do that.”