‘Huge blessing in disguise’ for Carney to be disinvited from Trump’s Board of Peace, professor says

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Trump withdraws Carney's invitation to join Board of Peace

U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to rescind his invitation for Mark Carney to join his “Board of Peace” for Gaza is good news for the Canadian prime minister, says a professor, as the war of words between neighbouring leaders churns on.

“I think it’s a huge blessing in disguise because then Canada doesn’t have to make a decision to join this vanity project that Donald Trump is pursuing,” Nader Hashemi, associate professor of Middle East and Islamic politics at Georgetown University, told CTV’s Your Morning on Friday.

“Trump has made the decision already for him. The revocation of the invitation is really at the core of this Board of Peace; it revolves around the personal preferences and wishes of Donald Trump who acts as, effectively, an emperor.”

On Thursday evening, Trump said in a post on Truth Social that Canada is no longer invited to join what he called “the most prestigious Board of Leaders ever assembled, at any time.”

Earlier in the day, Trump officially rolled out his Board of Peace at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Trump said the board aims to help maintain the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and preside over U.S.-led reconstruction efforts in Gaza.

Trump invited dozens of world leaders to join the board, but many traditional U.S. allies including Britain, France, Norway and Sweden have opted out.

• Read more: Who’s on Trump’s Board of Peace and who said no

Prior to Canada’s disinvitation, Carney had yet to officially join the board. He initially agreed to in principle, then later voiced concerns over the board’s structure and US$1-billion membership fee.

Hashemi noted that a phrase often repeated in the Board of Peace charter, which Trump officially ratified on Thursday, is that virtually all decisions have to be made with “the approval of the Chairman.”

“It basically puts Donald Trump in this position as a lifetime owner of this new Board of Peace; he appoints people who he wants and as we just saw last night, he disinvites people,” he said.

Which countries have joined the Board of Peace?

Many countries that received invitations have yet to commit to joining the board, including major players like China as well as Russia, whose potential membership is a concern for many nations critical of its ongoing war and territorial ambitions in Ukraine.

Critics of the board also say the body could end up rivaling the United Nations (UN) as the main organization used to resolve international conflict.

So far, 35 countries have agreed to join, including Israel, Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, Hungary, and Pakistan. Hashemi argued that most of them did so simply to “suck up” to Trump and further their respective national interests by playing to his ego.

“That’s really why these countries have done this,” he said.

“What they have in common is most of them are dictators and dictatorships in non-democratic states and so there’s a certain affinity in how they think about the world because they think about it through the lens of authoritarianism.”

Tom Mulcair, CTV News political commentator and former federal NDP leader, also called the board’s legitimacy into question based on the members who have agreed to join it so far.

“It’s worth actually looking at the list of countries that are on that so called board. This is not the first string,” he told CTV News Channel Friday.

“These are countries that Donald Trump would have described very colourfully just a couple of years ago, and now they’re his besties.”

Trump maintained Thursday that “everyone wants to be a part” of the board, though officials from just 19 of the countries who have agreed to join were present at its inaugural event in Davos.

“Let him sit down with those 19 people and discuss nothing, and do nothing, and try to convince himself that he’s the chairman of the board with nobody of importance around the table,” Mulcair said.

On its official website, the White House said in a release Thursday that the board is another step towards realizing Trump’s ultimate vision for Gaza, transforming the war-torn territory “from a region plagued by conflict and despair into one defined by opportunity, hope, and vitality.”

“The Board of Peace stands ready to mobilize global resources, enforce accountability, and guide the implementation of the next critical phases of demilitarization, governance reform, and large-scale rebuilding,” the release read.

The board’s charter, however, does not mention Gaza by name.

“It’s pretty clear, (reading) through the document, that it’s an attempt by Donald Trump to subvert the UN charter and to subvert the rules of the international system as we’ve known them,” said Hashemi.

‘Stop being a sucker’: Mulcair

Trump’s disinvitation to Carney came after the two leaders exchanged jabs during speeches in recent days.

On Thursday, Carney pushed back against Trump’s comments a day earlier that Canada “lives because of the U.S.” by saying the two countries have built a “remarkable partnership,” but “Canada doesn’t live because of the United States, Canada thrives because we are Canadian.”

Mulcair said that Carney was right to point out the importance of Canada’s long-standing relationship with the U.S. but applauded the prime minister for taking a harder stance on the trade front, referencing Carney’s recent electric vehicle and tariff reduction deal with China.

“At some point you’ve got to stop being a sucker, and that’s why we were right to allow in 50,000 Chinese electric vehicles, because we said no to them and put a 100 per cent tariff on them to be onside with the Americans,” he argued.

“But what did we get in return? We got Donald Trump, and we got tariffs, so going along with the Americans just to be able to continue the deals and the relationship proves nothing, and it doesn’t get us anywhere.”