TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney defended his trip to Saudi Arabia despite its poor human rights record and said on Thursday, during his visit to the kingdom that publicly condemning countries from afar is “an ineffective strategy.”During the visit — the first by a Canadian leader to Saudi Arabia in 26 years — Carney met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler. Carney has been seeking to expand his country’s economic ties beyond its heavy reliance on the United States, and diversify trade and attract investments against the backdrop of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs and threats to the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement. “Lecturing countries from afar is an ineffective strategy,” Carney told reporters in the Saudi city of Jeddah. “It’s satisfying, but it’s ineffective.”He stressed that engagement “doesn’t mean that we agree with everything that a country is doing.”Saudi Arabia’s human rights record drew global scrutiny after the 2018 killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. A U.S. intelligence assessment concluded Prince Mohammed likely approved the operation, which Saudi Arabia denies.
In Jeddah, Carney also said that the world is becoming more dangerous and divided and that Canada must expand its partnerships elsewhere, beyond the U.S., its largest trading partner.
