Editor’s Pick | The Ledger Asia
23 January 2026 – In a world once anchored by American leadership and predictable alliances, something subtle, yet consequential, is shifting. And at the centre of this recalibration stands an unlikely standard-bearer: Canada.
The question now circulating in diplomatic corridors, policy forums and global media is no longer whether U.S. President Donald Trump has upended the post-Cold War order, that debate is largely settled. Instead, the more provocative question is this: is Canada quietly leading the global resistance to Trump’s worldview?
It is not resistance in the traditional sense, no sanctions, no military posturing, no dramatic severing of ties. What Canada is offering instead is something far more unsettling to unilateral power: a competing moral and strategic narrative, one built on multilateralism, middle-power cooperation and a deliberate rejection of coercive diplomacy.
A New Voice at Davos
The shift became unmistakable at the World Economic Forum in Davos. On a stage typically dominated by superpowers and corporate titans, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney delivered a speech that landed like a challenge wrapped in diplomacy.
Carney warned that the rules-based global system, trade norms, security arrangements, and institutional trust, was fracturing under the weight of nationalism and transactional power politics. He spoke not as a firebrand, but as a former central banker and global insider who understands exactly how fragile the architecture of global cooperation has become.
The applause that followed was telling. European leaders, Asian policymakers, and executives from economies caught between Washington and Beijing heard something familiar in Carney’s message: their own unease.
Trump’s America, and the Limits of Power
Trump’s second presidency has been marked by a return to hard leverage, tariffs as tools of discipline, security guarantees framed as transactional bargains, and blunt rhetoric that reduces alliances to balance-sheet calculations. For smaller and mid-sized economies, this approach leaves little room for autonomy.
Canada, long one of America’s closest allies, has found itself increasingly exposed. Trump’s public remarks, including assertions that Canada’s prosperity depends entirely on U.S. goodwill, struck a nerve in Ottawa. More importantly, they crystallised a realisation that dependence without agency is no longer a viable strategy.
Rather than retaliate directly, Canada chose a different path: diversification and coalition-building.
The Rise of the Middle Powers
Canada’s strategy is not about replacing the United States. It is about diluting dominance.
Carney has framed Canada as part of a broader bloc of “middle powers”, countries that are neither global hegemons nor passive rule-takers. This group includes parts of Europe, segments of Asia, and commodity-rich economies that rely on open trade but increasingly distrust unilateral enforcement.
The idea is simple but powerful: if middle powers coordinate, on trade standards, climate policy, financial regulation and digital governance, they can collectively shape outcomes that no single superpower can dictate alone.
This is where Canada’s credibility matters. It is economically advanced, politically stable, institutionally trusted, and, crucially, not perceived as threatening. That makes Ottawa an effective convener in a fragmented world.
Domestic Politics Meets Global Strategy
At home, Carney’s assertiveness has resonated. Canadians have rallied around the idea that sovereignty is not merely territorial, but economic and institutional. Standing firm against external pressure has strengthened his domestic standing, even as it raises risks in the Canada-U.S. relationship.
Critics argue that Canada is overestimating its influence, and that any sustained confrontation with Washington carries real economic costs. That is true. But supporters counter that the greater risk lies in silence, in accepting a world where power alone sets the rules.
Resistance Without Rebellion
Is Canada “leading the resistance” against Trump? Not in the language of protest or opposition. There are no slogans, no formal blocs aimed at Washington.
Instead, Canada is doing something more durable: offering an alternative blueprint for global cooperation at a moment when many countries are searching for one.
It is resistance through institution-building, through diplomacy, through shared norms rather than shared enemies. And it reflects a growing recognition that the next global order may not be written by a single capital, but negotiated among many.
For Asia, this matters. Countries navigating between U.S. pressure, Chinese gravity and domestic priorities will be watching closely. If Canada succeeds in turning middle-power coordination into something tangible, it could reshape how influence is exercised in the decade ahead.
Trump may still command the loudest microphone.
But Canada is proving that quiet leadership can still move the room.
