Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has reignited tensions with former U.S. President Donald Trump, just weeks after having smoothed over a previous disagreement. Carney, who took office in March, commented on the global landscape during the G-20 summit, which concluded on Sunday in Johannesburg, South Africa. While leaders from around the globe gathered, Trump’s administration was notably absent, having boycotted the event after South Africa issued a declaration opposed by the U.S. White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly confirmed the boycott.

Carney used Trump’s absence as an opportunity to critique the former president. “This year’s G-20 summit united nations representing three-quarters of the world’s population, two-thirds of global GDP, and three-quarters of global trade, all without the formal presence of the United States,” Carney remarked at a Sunday press conference. He further noted, “This serves as a reminder that the global economic center of gravity is evolving.” When asked if Trump’s decision to skip the summit would harm multilateralism, Carney emphasized the importance of those who participated.

“That’s what multilateralism is about. It’s about who shows up, who engages, who does the work, and who builds,” Carney continued. “Canada is present and engaged. I believe we made significant progress collectively.” This recent critique follows Carney’s apology to Trump over a contentious anti-tariff advertisement that aired in the U.S., which included comments from former U.S. President Ronald Reagan. The ad had angered Trump, prompting him to raise tariffs on Canada and suspend trade talks. Canada remains the only G7 nation yet to finalize a trade agreement with the U.S. despite tariff pressures. The advertisement, which aired during the World Series, featured an edited clip of Reagan criticizing tariffs, originally directed at Japan in 1987. Trump labeled the ad “misleading” on his Truth Social platform, stating, “Due to their serious misrepresentation and hostile act, I am increasing the tariff on Canada by an additional 10%.”

Carney, former Bank of England governor, apparently sanctioned the commercial which had been commissioned by anti-tariff campaigner, Ontario Premier Doug Ford. Ford has heavily criticized the Trump administration, claiming its tariffs are hurting Ontario’s carmakers and steel industry. The ad was pulled following Trump’s reaction. Carney then went on to confirm that he did ‘apologize to the president’ although he tempered his apology with a claim that he had told Ford he did ‘not want to go forward with the ad.’ Speaking at the Asia-Pacific summit in South Korea, he said he had apologized privately to Trump at a dinner hosted by South Korea’s president the week prior. ‘I did apologize to the president,’ Carney admitted.

Trump then said he had accepted Carney’s apology but would not be restarting trade talks, commenting: ‘I like him [Carney] a lot but what they did was wrong. He apologized for what they did with the commercial because it was a false commercial.’ Meanwhile Ford boasted that the ad campaign was ‘very effective’ because it had upset Trump. ‘You know why President Trump is so upset right now? Because it was effective. It was working, it woke up the whole country,’ said Ford. Carney, who replaced Justin Trudeau earlier this year, ran a campaign that often pushed back at the president, specifically sharing his opposition of tariffs and Trump’s suggestion Canada would one day become the 51st state of the U.S.

Now that he’s in office, Carney has focused on trying to steer away from America and not rely on it as much as his country has in the past. Instead, he has looked toward strengthening ties with other nations, including South Africa, China and India. According to Carney, following a November 20 meeting in Abu Dhabi with United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, the country committed to investing $70 billion ($50 billion US) in Canada. ‘We’re signing new deals and finding new investors to fuel our plans for Canada’s economic ambition,’ he said without going into specifics. ‘We’ll expand trade and catalyze investment in increased partnerships across a range of areas from AI to energy in the Indo-Pacific and Europe.’ During the summit, Carney went on to tell South African President Cyril Ramaphosa of the great job he and his country did hosting the G-20, according to a statement, Bloomberg reported.

He also told Ramaphosa how much Canada supports his presidency and that Canada wants to continue to build closer ties with South Africa. Carney also met with Indian leader Narendra Modi on Sunday as they work to strengthen their relationship after Canada said Indian agents allegedly were involved in the assassination a Canadian citizen of Indian descent on its soil. Modi has rejected this accusation. At the end of it all, Carney made it clear Trump and the U.S. is not one of his top priorities right now. ‘I’ll speak to him again when it matters. I don’t have a burning issue to speak with the president about right now,’ he stated. ‘When America wants to come back and have the discussions on the trade side, we will have those discussions.’