Canada’s new Prime Minister Mark Carney: Ready to face off with Trump in emerging trade war

Justin Trudeau announced in January he would step down as Canada’s prime minister. On Sunday the Liberal Party of Canada chose his replacement in political newcomer Mark Carney.

Carney comes from a long career in finance, which people believe will help him manage the growing economic tensions between the U.S. and Canada.

Carney is expected to be sworn in sometime this week, marking an official end to the almost decade-long Trudeau era. He received 85.9% of the votes cast by members of the Liberal Party, party leaders reported that more than 150,000 people voted, per The New York Times.

Carney has also found himself in the unusual position of becoming prime minister without holding a seat in Parliament. There have been other prime ministers before Carney who served in the position without being in Parliament, per CBC.

As the new leader of the Liberal Party, he will lead the party into the federal elections later this year, where he will likely face off against the Conservative Party’s leader, Pierre Poilievre, per The New York Times.

Tensions between the U.S. and Canada

Carney’s first challenge as prime minister will be to manage the economic tension between the Canada and U.S. along with President Donald Trump’s threats to Canadian sovereignty.

“Trump is “attacking Canadian families, workers and businesses, and we cannot let him succeed and we won’t,” Carney said during his acceptance speech, according to CNN. “So Americans should make no mistake, in trade, as in hockey, Canada will win.”

Carney also addressed Trump’s threats to make Canada the 51st state, “America is not Canada. And Canada never, ever will be part of America in any way, shape or form, We didn’t ask for this fight, but Canadians are always ready when someone else drops the gloves.”

Experts believe that Carney’s economic background makes him uniquely suited to dealing with the emerging trade war between the U.S. and Canada.

Ever since Trump announced the tariffs on Canada, Carney has been a strong proponent of setting matching retaliatory tariffs against the U.S, per CNN.

Poilievre, the leader of the Conservative Party who is expected to go up against Carney in the fall, has taken to social media since Carney’s election to say the new prime minister will be the same as Trudeau and Canada will still have all the same problems.

“And make no mistake, Donald Trump will have a big smile on his face as he exploits all of Carney’s many conflicts to attack Canadian workers and Canadian jobs, but we Conservatives won’t let either of them do that,” Poilievre wrote on X.

Who is Mark Carney?

Carney comes from a background in finance and is relatively new to his political career. Before this election for prime minister, Carney had never run for elected office before, but according to CNN, there have been rumors for years about if — or when — he might venture into politics.

He grew up in Edmonton, Alberta, and attended both Harvard University and Oxford University, receiving both a master’s and a doctorate in economics. After school, he worked for Goldman Sachs for 13 years, traveling between the firm’s offices in New York, London, Tokyo and Toronto. Carney joined the Bank of Canada in 2003, per Axios.

In 2008, he became governor of the Bank of Canada and helped guide the country through the financial crisis of 2008. Carney also spent nearly seven years as the governor of the Bank of England, the first non-British person to hold the position.

After leaving England, Carney worked as the United Nations special envoy for climate action and finance. During this time he advocated for investing in net-zero emissions.

“Since then, he has made clean energy, climate policies and economic prosperity for Canada some of the central facets of his campaign, stressing that being low-carbon will help Canada be more competitive,” according to CNN.

According to Axios, Carney also advised Trudeau through Canada’s COVID-19 economic response.