The deadline of July 1 for the mandatory joint review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) is fast approaching. United States (US) protectionism is leading the Western world down a more transactional path, one where old economic partnerships are being redefined. This shift is causing a great deal of anxiety for Canadians as the future of trade remains uncertain. Following his election, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has come under fire for failing to make a trade deal with President Donald Trump to resolve the issue.But does Mark Carney really want to renew the USMCA? Does he want a regional trade deal with the US or Mexico at all, for that matter? Evidence thus far suggests that he might not be as interested in reaching a trade agreement as he’s led Canadians to believe. Evidence revealed by his jogging buddy, of all people.Not everyone is satisfied with the increasing number of these regional free trade deals around the world. From a globalist perspective, agreements like the USMCA, the European Union Single Market, or even the massive Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership are considered “regional,” no matter how big they are. Instead of all these regional agreements, globalists want all trade exclusively regulated by global governance. That means through a set of multilateral institutions like the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank. Trade is considered by globalists to be part of what they term “global goods” — non-excludable particulars essential for a stable global government.“Trade remains a key driver of global growth and as such is an essential global good,” writes Mark Carney’s good friend and jogging partner, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, in his new book, The Triangle of Power: Rebalancing the New World Order. The book explains Stubb’s new ideology called “value-based realism.” It’s the same globalist ideology which Carney introduced in his Davos speech in January..“Canadians know that our old comfortable assumptions,” Carney informed WEF attendees, “that our geography and alliance memberships automatically conferred prosperity and security — that assumption is no longer valid. And our new approach rests on what Alexander Stubb, the President of Finland, has termed ‘value-based realism.’”Now, as an aside, I’ll be following this article up with an in-depth review of Stubb’s book on value-based realism, The Triangle of Power, in the coming days here at Western Standard. But before that arrives, I found evidence to help explain Carney’s lack of progress with the USMCA negotiations.Carney has openly admitted he’s adopting this new ideology called “value-based realism” for his proposed new world order, a globalist cabal that ostensibly excludes President Trump and the US. And to that end, Stubb’s book revealed something that would explain a great deal of Carney’s strategy regarding USMCA negotiations so far.There hasn’t really been a strategy.We have watched Carney’s USMCA approach change from promising a deal was imminent in June 2025, to saying the current agreement is the “best deal” available in September 2025, to calling our reliance on the US part of Canada’s “weaknesses” in April 2026. That last claim, combined with a lack of any serious action on the negotiation front, should have every Canadian concerned. It did not go over well with the Americans at all.On April 22, Ambassador Rick Switzer, Deputy US Trade Representative, blasted Canada’s stand-offish turn. “I think Carney has made it personal,” said Switzer. “I think it’s political malpractice for the prime minister of Canada to pit — politically — himself against any President.” Switzer contrasted Carney’s avoidance with Mexican President Sheinbaum’s willingness to strike a deal with the US. “They can have a weak economy that is underperforming and not doing well, and Carney can feel superior,” Switzer warned Canadians. “Or they can have an economy that participates as a partner of the US economy.”.Some Canadians are already packing their bags, so to speak, as reported by Dr. Sylvain Charlebois at the Toronto Sun. “For an agri-food sector that sends roughly 75% of its exports to the United States,” Charlebois writes, “policy ambiguity is not an academic concern — it is a business risk. Increasingly, companies are not waiting for clarity. They are hiring consultants, restructuring supply chains, and preparing for a post-CUSMA environment. Not because it is inevitable, but because it is conceivable.”In his book, Alexander Stubb argues that value-based realism must be practiced to achieve a successful new world order. He suggests that regional trade agreements like USMCA impede globalization. Globalization, in turn, he argues, is necessary because it’s the only solution to the biggest problems every individual country faces, including trade, climate change, and demographics. “The downside is that [regional trade agreements] exclude others and undermine the WTO’s requirement to treat all trading partners equally.” Stubb cautions. “Regional trade agreements are the economic equivalent of geopolitical bloc building. In the wrong circumstances, they risk cementing cleavages rather than furthering cooperation.”Stubb is clearly a globalist, and his value-based realism is rooted in multilateralism as the only solution to the problems countries face — including trade. He believes the alternatives to global governance, including regional trade agreements, lead to increased tension and, eventually, open conflict.What could that mean for Stubb’s jogging buddy Mark Carney and the upcoming USMCA negotiations? It suggests that Mark Carney already has an alternative to the USMCA in mind. He might, in fact, be expecting negotiations to fail, and he certainly needs to be prepared if they fall through. It would shock the entire world if Canada just dropped its negotiations with the US and decided to approach trade through the WTO and other global regulators. However, that would be in line with Carney’s promised new world order and, as he’s alluded to many times, it’s unlikely that the US would be part of it. In the meantime, Carney would continue to construct bilateral agreements, while perhaps working towards a grand globalist strategy with other willing partners to try to revamp the world’s multilateral institutions and bring them renewed regulatory power through patronage.That’s certainly where the Finnish president believes we should be headed. I’ll explore more on that in my next article on his new book. Stay tuned, Western Standard readers.
