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The old British wartime maxim “keep calm and carry on” was given a new twist Sunday at the opening of the ASEAN Summit as Prime Minister Mark Carney addressed South Asian leaders about the importance of “reliable partners who honour their commitments."

The subtle jabs were delivered against a backdrop of rising rhetoric and tariff threats by U.S. President Donald Trump, who promised to impose a further 10 per cent duty on Canadian goods in retaliation for Ontario government television ads that quote former president Ronald Reagan's criticism of tariffs.

Carney has not responded substantively to the sudden, dramatic unravelling of negotiations.

He spoke on the tarmac in Ottawa about the cancellation of trade talks, saying Canada and the United States were making progress at the negotiating table and that his government stood ready to resume negotiations when the Trump administration was ready. In the meantime, the prime minister said, the country would seek out other trading partners and focus on investments at home.

Carney has stuck to that line pretty much all weekend.

Dominic LeBlanc, the minister responsible for Canada-U.S. trade, was the first to answer the U.S. president's latest tariff threat with a social media post late Saturday that reiterated the prime minister’s position.

In Malaysia late Sunday, Carney stopped to talk to journalists and basically reiterated the same points in what appears to be a strategy aimed at not provoking Trump any further.

“As I emphasized the other day, the government of Canada stands ready to build on the progress that we had been making in our negotiations, our discussions with our American counterparts,” the prime minister said.

Canada wants 'bigger role' in region

Carney’s address in Kuala Lumpur early Sunday was part pitch for freer trade with the ASEAN block of nations and part veiled reference to the worsening relations with the U.S.

“We have all been reminded of the importance of reliable partners — who honour their commitments, who are there in tough times, and who engage collaboratively to fix something that isn’t working,” Carney told the leaders of the 11 nations gathered around the table in the Malaysian capital.

“Canada is such a partner, a dependable partner, and I have come to Kuala Lumpur to say clearly that we want to play a bigger role in this region."

The Liberal government is pushing ahead with free-trade negotiations at ASEAN, hoping to conclude a deal next year.

"Like ASEAN, Canada values the rules-based system. We respect trade agreements and the rule of law,” Carney said in remarks that could also be interpreted as being directed at Trump. “We believe in the value of the free exchange of goods, capital, and ideas."

He added that the world is now undergoing a fundamental shift — more a rupture than a transition.

“Multilateral trade liberalization is giving way to transactional and managed bilateral trade and investment,” the prime minister said.

There was some hope that Carney and Trump would meet on the sidelines of the summit to iron out the feud over the ads, which aired during the World Series, but the president has said he’s not interested in talking.

Only one 'general' needed in trade war

Without directly blaming Ontario Premier Doug Ford, Goldy Hyder, president and CEO of the Business Council of Canada, said it's up to the prime minister to keep the premiers in line.

"In a trade war, you need a general, not 13 of them, and I'm hoping the prime minister can recognize that we've got to pull our own act together here if we're going to have an opportunity to make progress," said Hyder, who noted that sectoral tariff negotiations are just the warmup for the renegotiation of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico (CUSMA) free-trade agreement next year.

He also said dissatisfaction on the U.S. side runs deeper than Trump's reaction to the ad.

"There are a number of areas in which the Americans have expressed some concerns. I'd like to put the negotiators back in the room to negotiate an agreement."

One of the irritants Hyder pointed to outside of the trade sphere was Canada's recognition of a Palestinian state.

In a speech at the onset of the summit, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim delivered an overall message that almost felt like it was directed at the current Canada-U.S. dispute.

“Across regions, we see rising contestation of growing uncertainty,” Ibrahim said.

“These crosswinds test not only our economics, but our collective resolve to keep faith in co-operation, to believe that understanding and dialogue can still prevail."

Trump was given a rousing, flag-waving greeting when he arrived in Kuala Lumpur early Sunday, where he oversaw the signing of a peace deal between Thailand and Cambodia, which his administration helped broker last summer.

Trump said it took"a lot of phone calls" to get the unconditional ceasefire in the border war.

WATCH | Trump threatens 10 per cent tariff hike after Reagan ad airs during World Series:

Trump says he's increasing ‘the Tariff on Canada’ by 10%

October 25 |

Duration 2:08

U.S. President Donald Trump has announced on social media he will be increasing “the Tariff on Canada” by 10 per cent “over and above what they are paying now" because of an advertisement by the Ontario government. It’s unclear at the moment which tariff — or tariffs — the U.S. president is referring to.