Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canada is prepared to play a third-party role in putting the preliminary peace agreement between the United States and Iran into practice, including potentially overseeing how billions in reconstruction funds are distributed.
"Canada is of course willing to help, if that's appropriate," Carney told reporters Wednesday as the G7 summit in Évian-les-Bains, France, came to a close.
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The deal references the possibility of Iran receiving at least $300 billion to rebuild following the war. Carney was clear Canada isn't offering money, but said there's a different kind of contribution on the table.
"What you need in any of these accords is you need people to help implement them, third parties to help them implement them," he said. "Moderators overseeing, if you have money that's linked to, which is the case with this deal, which has conditions and linked to the fulfillment of those conditions and being managed, sometimes you have third countries do that. Canada is of course willing to help if that's appropriate."
Iran deal dominated the summit agenda
The U.S. conflict with Iran was one of the central topics at the summit hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron in the picturesque resort town of Évian-les-Bains in the French Alps.
In a Tuesday interview with CNN, Carney said he had reviewed the preliminary agreement and it "exceeded" his expectations, adding that it should prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. He repeated that praise Wednesday.
"It creates a possibility of a game changer," he said.
Carney did not hold a formal bilateral meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at the summit. He said the two nonetheless had at least "seven or eight" informal conversations, covering topics ranging from lighter subjects like Trump's recent 80th birthday to weightier ones including Iran, Ukraine, artificial intelligence and trade.
He pushed back on any suggestion the absence of a formal sit-down was meaningful, noting Trump only scheduled official bilateral meetings with Macron and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
China EV deal gets Trump's blessing
On the sidelines of the summit, Carney briefed Trump on Canada's recent decision to reduce its tariff on Chinese-made electric vehicles from 100 per cent to 6.1 per cent, with an annual import cap of 49,000 vehicles, roughly three per cent of the Canadian market. In exchange, China suspended its retaliatory tariffs on Canadian agricultural products.
Trump had previously criticized the arrangement, threatening new tariffs and warning that Canada would not be allowed to become a "drop-off port" for Chinese vehicles entering the United States. After Carney's pitch at a working lunch, the president offered a notably different response.
"That's good, I like it," Trump said, according to reporters present.
Carney told reporters the two had a follow-up conversation on the subject and used the opportunity to clarify Canada's broader position.
"We are only interested in Chinese investment in Canada when it's material Canadian production," he said. "We're not interested in kits being put together in Canada. We will only do what's in the interest of Canadian consumers (and) Canadian workers."
Not everyone was impressed by how that moment unfolded. Fen Osler Hampson, an international affairs professor at Carleton University, said a prime minister who regularly texts and talks with the U.S. president shouldn't need to make that kind of pitch as an aside at a working lunch with no scheduled leader-to-leader meeting.
"The gap between that advertised intimacy and a pitch caught by an open microphone is the real story," he said.
CUSMA still unresolved
Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc met with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on the sidelines of the summit Tuesday, but trade talks between the two countries remain tense. There is still no clear decision on whether to extend the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade.
G7 takes aim at China without naming it
The summit concluded Wednesday with agreements that took aim at Chinese economic practices while stopping short of calling out Beijing by name. Leaders jointly urged an end to excessive subsidies and the use of access to critical minerals as a tool of coercion.
The gathering itself got off to a delayed start after Trump announced the White House would host a UFC fight on June 14, which is Flag Day in the United States and also his 80th birthday. When he finally arrived, Trump set the tone quickly.
"I'm the boss," he told fellow G7 leaders before sitting down to a session on economic growth.
Carney holds a full slate of bilateral meetings
Beyond his conversations with Trump, Carney met with leaders from Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, India, Italy, South Korea and Germany during the summit.
Following his meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the Prime Minister's Office announced the conclusion of a new general security of information agreement, saying the deal will open defence procurement opportunities for Canadian businesses.
In his meeting with Modi, Carney said the two countries are aiming to wrap up their bilateral trade agreement before the G20 summit later this year.
*With files from CP
