Summary

Mark Carney’s Davos address argues we’ve moved from a “rules-based order” to a harsher era where great powers use trade, finance, and supply chains as coercive weapons—and that “middle powers” can respond by building shared resilience, principled alliances, and a practical “third path.” 

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In the attached Davos coverage, President Trump’s remarks illustrate the other side of that “rupture”: public pressure on allies, transactional security talk, and explicit verbal shots at Canada’s Prime Minister—right on the Davos stage.

This post makes a provocative case: California, Oregon, Washington, Michigan, and New York should explore a formal political-economic alignment with Canada—up to and including accession—because the combined economy would be massive (about $10.55T nominal GDP using 2024 figures) and could anchor a new, democratic, climate-forward, innovation-heavy sovereignty. We should also create a transparent pathway for other states to apply for admission.

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1) Carney at Davos: “Rupture,” honesty, and a middle-power coalition

Carney’s core move is to name what many leaders avoid saying plainly: the “rules-based” story has been convenient, partially true, and increasingly performative—“living within a lie.” He frames today as “a rupture, not a transition,” where tariffs, finance, and supply chains become instruments of leverage rather than mutual benefit. 

Then he pivots to agency: middle powers aren’t helpless. They can pool sovereignty by sharing the costs of strategic autonomy—collective investments in resilience, shared standards, and coalitions that work “issue by issue.” 

The most future-facing line, for our purposes, is his invitation: Canada’s path is “wide open to any country willing to take it with us.” 

That’s not a blueprint for annexation. It’s an argument for federated strength: democracy + industrial capacity + energy + human capital + legitimacy—built into a network of aligned jurisdictions that can’t be picked off one-by-one.

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2) Trump at Davos: the “rupture” made visible

The attached Davos write-up captures how Trump’s speech landed: a mix of praise and threat toward allies, including Greenland acquisition demands and anxiety about NATO’s health.

Most relevant here is the Canada moment: the article reports Trump directly criticized Prime Minister Carney and delivered a warning-style line implying Canada “lives because of the United States,” telling Carney to “remember that” when he speaks.

Whether one sees that as negotiating theatre or something darker, it is exactly the dynamic Carney is warning about: security and economic interdependence being priced, politicized, and leveraged in public.

So the question becomes: if the era is shifting toward coercive transactionalism, what’s the best defensive—and hopeful—move for democratic regions that want rule-of-law, climate resilience, and broadly shared prosperity?

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3) The case for a new sovereignty: Canada + CA/OR/WA/MI/NY as a “third path” federation

This isn’t about “escaping” America as a culture. It’s about building a durable democratic economic bloc that can: • Absorb shocks (trade wars, currency swings, supply chain coercion) • Negotiate as a unit with any hegemon or hyperscaler • Invest at continental scale in clean power, grids, ports, rail, and broadband • Protect pluralistic civic space (including decentralized media and public-interest digital infrastructure)

Why these five states in particular? • Pacific innovation corridor (CA/OR/WA): deep tech, research universities, ports, clean energy, advanced manufacturing, and global cultural reach. • Financial and civic infrastructure (NY): finance, media, higher ed, and global diplomacy capacity. • Industrial and freshwater resilience (MI): advanced manufacturing, mobility, Great Lakes logistics, and strategic materials supply chains.

Pair that with Canada’s strengths Carney highlights—energy, critical minerals, capital pools, and a stable pluralistic democracy—and you have an obvious “middle-power-plus” nucleus. 

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4) The numbers: what this new sovereignty would look like economically

Using 2024 nominal GDP figures (current USD) for the five states (BEA-reported values reproduced in the state GDP table) and Canada’s 2024 GDP (World Bank), the combined economy is approximately: • CA: $4.103T • NY: $2.297T • WA: $0.855T • MI: $0.719T • OR: $0.331T 

Five-state subtotal: $8.305T 

Canada (2024): $2.244T 

Combined “New Sovereignty” GDP (Canada + CA/OR/WA/MI/NY)

$10.549T (≈ $10.55 trillion)

Remaining United States GDP (after removing those five states)

If we use the 2024 U.S. nominal GDP total reported alongside the state table ($29.184T) and subtract the five-state subtotal ($8.305T), the remaining U.S. economy is:

$20.879T (≈ $20.88 trillion) 

Even with normal year-to-year variance, a $10.55T economy would be globally top-tier—well above Germany ($4.69T) and Japan (~$4.03T) on 2024 World Bank figures. 

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5) What “joining Canada” could actually mean (without hand-waving)

This idea only has integrity if we acknowledge reality: any such move would require lawful, democratic, transparent processes—likely constitutional changes, negotiated treaties, and public votes. The point of raising it now is not to cosplay maps; it’s to open a serious conversation about regional self-determination and shared resilience in a destabilizing era.

A practical frame is not “annexation,” but confederation or accession-by-consent: • A negotiated federal arrangement with strong provincial/state autonomy • Clear fiscal terms (taxation, equalization, debt allocation, pensions) • Citizenship and mobility guarantees • Indigenous sovereignty and treaty obligations centered from day one • Defense and foreign policy alignment consistent with democratic norms

Carney’s speech repeatedly returns to shared sovereignty as shared resilience—the opposite of fortress-building. 

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6) A civic operating system for the federation: co-ops, commons, and community-owned infrastructure

If we’re serious about a “third path,” the federation’s legitimacy can’t come only from GDP. It has to come from how power works locally.

That’s where a regenerative, cooperative model matters: • Community-owned broadband and interoperable digital public squares • Commons-based peer production (open knowledge, open tooling, shared civic R&D) • Distributed local procurement and circular-economy buildouts • Decentralized, member-governed media networks (instead of a few extractive gatekeepers)

In other words: build the sovereignty the way we build resilient networks—redundant, locally governed, openly coordinated, and designed to keep value circulating in communities.

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7) Open admissions: let other states apply (but set real criteria)

If CA/OR/WA/MI/NY are the founding “charter applicants,” then yes—other states should be able to apply for admission. But admission should be values-and-capacity based, not partisan.

Proposed admission criteria (draft):

1.    Democratic safeguards: voting rights protections, independent courts, anti-corruption enforcement
2.    Human rights baseline: nondiscrimination, due process, press freedom
3.    Climate and infrastructure commitments: grid modernization, water resilience, broadband as essential infrastructure
4.    Fiscal transparency: open budgets, audited public accounts
5.    Indigenous nation-to-nation commitments: enforceable consultation and treaty respect
6.    Interoperability pledge: shared standards for trade corridors, workforce credentials, digital ID/privacy, emergency response

A simple process: • Petition threshold → independent commission review → negotiated terms → binding referendum → phased accession (3–5 years) with safeguards.

That makes the project bigger than a moment of anger. It makes it a constructive civic option for any region that wants in.

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Call to action: build the registry, then build the coalition

If this “rupture” era is real, then waiting for permission to be safe is not a strategy. The first step is organizing an honest, lawful, democratic exploration of new alignments—starting with the regions most ready to carry the load.

Register your support and add your voice now: • Go to our website and click Join / Register • Choose your state/province • Volunteer for outreach, policy research, or community infrastructure projects • Invite local leaders (labor, tribal nations, mayors, cooperatives, universities, small business networks) to form a regional working group

If you want a sovereignty built for resilience, dignity, and shared prosperity—this is the moment to stop pretending and start building.