Trump answers Canada’s Board of Peace snub by publicly withdrawing invitation

Canadian PM Mark Carney initially accepted the invitation, but later declined, refusing the $1 billion payment.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

President Donald Trump on Thursday withdrew Canada’s invitation to join the Board of Peace, removing Prime Minister Mark Carney from an initiative the US president has promoted as a new platform for managing postwar arrangements in Gaza and other conflict zones, The New York Times reports.

Trump announced the decision in a social media post framed as a letter to Carney. “Please let this Letter serve to represent that the Board of Peace is withdrawing its invitation to you regarding Canada’s joining, what will be, the most prestigious Board of Leaders ever assembled, at any time,” he wrote.

Carney had received the invitation the previous week and his staff initially indicated he intended to accept.

He later distanced himself after reports surfaced that permanent membership would require payments exceeding $1 billion and after other Western leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, declined to participate.

The reversal followed remarks Carney made at the World Economic Forum, where he called on smaller nations to work together in response to what he described as President Trump’s America First approach and efforts to unravel the post-World War II international framework.

In a subsequent speech hours before Trump’s announcement, Carney criticized “authoritarianism and exclusion” in comments widely interpreted as aimed at the US president.

Trump did not specify a reason for rescinding the invitation.

The move, however, came amid already strained relations between Washington and Ottawa. Since returning to office, Trump has pursued a confrontational stance toward Canada, including tariff disputes, threats to annex the country as the 51st state, and sharp public criticism of Canadian officials.

The deterioration has affected economic and public ties as well.

Canadians, traditionally a major source of tourism to the United States, have reduced travel and boycotted some American goods. The tensions also cast uncertainty over the future of the USMCA trade agreement linking Canada, the United States, and Mexico, negotiated during Trump’s first term.

The episode highlighted the unusual structure of the Board of Peace. Its charter grants Trump, as chairman, broad authority to control its agenda, approve or reject members, veto decisions, dissolve the body, and designate his successor.