SYDNEY, Australia -- In a more relaxed mode than usual, Prime Minister Mark Carney used the f-word at a fireside chat in Sydney while telling a story from his time as a central banker and shared his observations about a number of world leaders.
“You don’t want to say anything in public that you can’t back up,” he said about learning how to deal with U.S. President Donald Trump.
“It’s quite different in private,” he told Michael Fullilove, the executive director of the Lowy Institute who hosted the chat. “He [Trump] is more interested in your viewpoint on various things.”
Carney said the American president appreciates when conversations are direct, particularly in private.
He then talked about the first time he met Chinese President Xi Jinping as prime minister during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in November 2025. President Xi apparently spent at least 10 minutes off the top of the meeting discussing how he wanted personal interactions to go.
The takeaway for Carney? Don’t lecture Xi.
“He didn’t say those words. But I interpreted it as, don’t lecture me in public. Bring issues to me directly,” Carney told the assembled group of roughly 100 people at one of Australia’s top think tanks.
When Fullilove asked for Carney’s assessment of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Carney called him “unique” and pointed to his work ethic, noting he hasn’t taken a day off in 25 years.
Carney added he’s learned, from interactions with Modi over time, that the prime minister is very focused on delivery, especially for the average person at the street level.
He also commented on the broader India-Canada relationship. India was the first stop on Carney’s current Indo-Pacific tour, and it ended with a commitment to finish a broad trade deal by the end of this year, and an invitation for Modi to visit Canada.
Carney said Canada is “much more aggressive” and “much more cognizant” of issues such as foreign interference, transnational repression and cross border security.
“The way we look at it is our approach is vigilance and engagement.”
‘And I’m like, f***’
In a much more light-hearted moment with a seemingly relaxed Carney, Fullilove asked whether central bankers or prime ministers have more fun.
Carney picked central bankers, referring to “crazy” dinners at Basel, and laughing about “good wine.” The prime minister appeared to be referring to the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland, which is owned by 63 central banks from countries around the world.
He told a longer story about one dinner in particular of the G10 central banks. Carney remembered being two weeks into his job as governor of the Bank of Canada in early 2008, during the economic crisis and collapse of U.S. investment bank Bear Sterns.
He said he had approximately an hour and a half to decide how to handle it. He remembers a seven-course meal around the dinner table and being welcomed by the chair, who detailed the “best wine in Europe” on offer.
But the chair took quite a bit of time going through the choices.
“You know, tick tick tick,” Carney recalled about the clock running out. “And he’s like, ‘Well have this one, but you know, the pinot grigio,’ and I’m like, ‘f***,’” Carney remembered, laughing.
When the wine discussion was done, there was just an hour left for the financial decisions.
“An hour later all I remember is, man the wine is fantastic … but anyways, we got it done.”
