Carney pitches Canada to global investors as Trump tries to pull
investment south
[September 14, 2026] By
ROB GILLIES
TORONTO (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump wants factories and
investment moving south to the United States. Canadian Prime Minister
Mark Carney is betting he can make billions flow north.
About 300 CEOs and senior executives from some of the world’s biggest
investment firms will descend on the Four Seasons in Yorkville, a tony
Toronto enclave of high-end restaurants and designer boutiques, for
Carney’s Canada Investment Summit this week.
The investors collectively manage more than $120 trillion in assets,
underscoring the scale of capital Carney hopes to tap as Canada tries to
attract billions in new investment and reduce its economic dependence on
the United States.
“Canada is about so much more than being next to the United States,”
Carney said. “We have what the world wants.”
Carney pointed to Canada’s vast energy and critical-mineral resources,
its highly educated workforce and trade agreements that give businesses
based in Canada access to roughly 1.5 billion consumers around the
world.
He said the turnout showed investors were interested in Canada on its
own merits.
“They are coming because of Canada,” he said. “If they wanted to go to
the United States they would go to the United States.”
Few people know this crowd better than Carney. He ran the central banks
of Canada and England, spent 13 years at Goldman Sachs and later chaired
the boards of Bloomberg L.P. and Brookfield Asset Management, putting
him very much in his element among the global investors and money
managers gathering at the Four Seasons.
A Canadian official described the summit as the largest gathering of
investment decision-makers ever assembled in Canada, alongside Canadian
CEOs bringing projects at varying stages of readiness. But the official
cautioned that the summit is not expected to produce a rush of deals
this week, with the most significant results likely to emerge over the
next 12 to 18 months. The official spoke on condition of anonymity
because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.
A trade war raises the stakes
But the summit comes at a critical moment for Canada. Trade talks
collapsed Aug. 21, then Trump imposed 50% tariffs on about $20 billion
in Canadian goods and Canada retaliated. Washington then raised the
stakes again, announcing bans on some Canadian imports and moving to
shut Canadian products out of large, long-term U.S. government
contracts.
Trump’s tariffs and efforts to shift manufacturing south of the border
are undermining what was long one of the country’s biggest attractions
to foreign investors: reliable access to the enormous U.S. market under
continental free trade.
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Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks to Canadian business
leaders at the Canada Investment Summit welcome reception in
Toronto, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. (Jon Blacker/The Canadian Press via
AP)
 Carney and business leaders will
urge global investors to look past the trade war and make a bigger
bet on Canada.
Carney is drawing a pointed contrast with Trump’s America, pitching
Canada as a stable, rules-based alternative to an increasingly
unpredictable United States.
Investors coming to Canada will find “a country that respects rule
of law and a country that is reliable,” Carney said.
“That combination is pretty rare in the world,” he said. “And it’s
an attractive combination.”
Carney sharpened the message Sunday, telling Canadian business
leaders that Canada’s greatest strength was something “that cannot
be found on any balance sheet: trust.”
John Graham, CEO of CPP Investments, one of the world’s largest
institutional investors and the manager of Canada Pension Plan
assets, is helping host the summit. He said the fund compares
investment opportunities in Canada with those around the world.
“The conversation about Canada is changing,” Graham said.
Summit aims to channel global capital into Canadian projects
The summit is aimed at matching global capital — including Canada’s
pension funds, which rank among the world’s biggest institutional
investors — with major projects in critical minerals, technology,
defense, advanced manufacturing and energy.
Carney’s private meetings will be tailored to investors’ portfolios
and the types of projects they are interested in financing,
according to a Canadian official.
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and Blackstone President Jon Gray will
headline a public discussion on global capital, while former
Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper is scheduled to close the
summit. Carney then heads to Europe, where he will address the
European Parliament later in the week as Canada seeks a broader
strategic partnership with the EU.
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