US President Donald Trump withdrew an invitation for Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney to join his Board of Peace after the country declined to pay for a permanent seat, in one of a few challenges to hit the newly constituted body.
“Dear Prime Minister 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,” Trump posted on his Truth Social network Friday morning.
Before that post, Spain’s leader announced that he was declining an invitation to the board, alongside a similar announcement by France on Thursday. And multiple European Union officials expressed concern about the board’s mandate, and whether it will step on the toes of the UN.
Carney left the World Economic Forum in Davos before Trump inaugurated the committee of world leaders, which is currently tasked with implementing the US peace plan for the war-battered Gaza Strip.
Although originally meant to oversee Gaza’s rebuilding, the board’s charter makes no mention of the Palestinian territory and appears to want to rival the United Nations. A mandate for a Board of Peace was authorized by the UN Security Council in November 2025, but only through 2027 and solely focused on the Gaza conflict.
The Canadian government said it would not pay to join the body, which, according to the charter, requires a $1 billion fee from countries wanting to earn permanent membership.
European leaders have “serious doubts about several elements in the charter of the Board of Peace related to its scope, its governance and its compatibility with the UN Charter,” EU chief Antonio Costa said Friday after an EU leaders’ summit in Brussels.
However, he said, “We are ready to work together with the US on the implementation of the comprehensive Peace Plan for Gaza, with a Board of Peace carrying out its mission as a transitional administration.”
EU member states have so far refrained from joining the Board of Peace, with the exceptions of Hungary and Bulgaria.
“We want to work for the peace in the Middle East and we want this board of peace to be limited to the UN Security Council resolution as it was foreseen,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Thursday before a summit of EU leaders. “So if we narrow it down to Gaza like it was meant to be, then we can work with it.”
On Thursday, at the board’s unveiling ceremony, Trump said that it “can spread out to other things” once it succeeds in Gaza. He said, “We can do numerous other things… We can do pretty much whatever we want to do, and we’ll do it in conjunction with the United Nations.”
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told reporters on Thursday that his country had “declined” the invitation to participate in the body.
Sanchez cited consistency with Madrid’s commitment to international law, the UN, and multilateralism as the main reasons it was declining to participate.
He also noted the Board of Peace does not include the Palestinian Authority.
Israel has joined the board, along with Middle Eastern countries such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
London, meanwhile, has expressed concerns about the inclusion of Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose forces continue to fight in Ukraine after invading in 2022.
And France said the charter as it currently stood was “incompatible” with its international commitments, especially its UN membership.
“It was not corresponding on the one hand with the pure Gaza mandate, which is not even mentioned, and on the other hand, there are elements of this charter which are contrary to the United Nations charter,” French Foreign Ministry spokesman Pascal Confavreux told reporters.
Carney, upbraiding Trump, calls for Canada to be a ‘beacon.’
In the run-up to the Board of Peace spat, Canada’s prime minister drew international attention with comments about a “rupture” in the US-led global order.
In Davos, the site of a gathering of the world’s business and political elite, the Canadian prime minister condemned coercion by great powers on smaller countries, without mentioning Trump’s name.
“Canada lives because of the United States,” the US president said in response. “Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements.”
Upon returning home to Canada on Thursday, Carney responded to Trump, saying: “Canada doesn’t live because of the United States. Canada thrives because we are Canadian.”
Carney said Canada and the US have built a remarkable partnership in the areas of economy, security and a rich cultural exchange, but said “we are masters in our home, this is our own country, it’s our future, the choice is up to us.”
Trump has talked about making Canada the 51st state and posted this week an altered image of a map of the US that includes Canada, Greenland, Venezuela, and Cuba as part of its territory.
Trump posts map showing Canada and Greenland under U.S. control https://t.co/ZZlxaTxbbS pic.twitter.com/4dJ1y7zoDa
— National Post (@nationalpost) January 20, 2026
Trump said in Davos that Canada gets many “freebies” from the US and “should be grateful.” He said Carney’s Davos speech showed he “wasn’t so grateful.”
Trump also said Canada wants to participate in the “Golden Dome” — a multibillion-dollar missile defense system inspired by Israel’s Iron Dome that he says will be operational before his term ends in 2029.
In a speech before a cabinet retreat in Quebec City, Carney said staying true to Canada’s values is key to maintaining its sovereignty.
“We can show that another way is possible, that the arc of history isn’t destined to be warped toward authoritarianism and exclusion; it can still bend toward progress and justice,” Carney said.
Carney said, “Canada must be a beacon — an example to a world at sea.”
Lazar Berman contributed to this article.
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