OSLO – Canada and the five Nordic nations agreed Sunday to ramp up military procurement cooperation and more, as Prime Minister Mark Carney advances alliances with “middle powers” to lessen US reliance and reshape global trade.
The Oslo summit of leaders from Canada, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland, small, export-driven states, targets joint defense buys for taxpayer value and stronger security, Carney said. “If we spend uncoordinated, it won’t protect our people as much,” he noted, pledging continued US ties but more partnerships.
Danish PM Mette Frederiksen, eyeing re-election, declared the “old world order gone,” urging a values-based new one. She credited Carney’s January Davos speech rallying middle powers, which resonated in Denmark and beyond.
A joint statement backs Ukraine, free trade, green economies, and Arctic security, key with all holding polar territories. They slammed US President Donald Trump’s Greenland takeover bid, Denmark’s autonomous region.
Norwegian PM Jonas Gahr Støre called it “variable geometry” cooperation, not new institutions: teaming variably by issue with potential partners like Australia, Japan, and South Korea. Carney’s outreach spans China, Middle East, India, and Europe amid shifting geopolitics.