Canada’s Liberal Party has chosen a new prime minister in former economist Mark Carney, who will take over from outgoing PM Justin Trudeau.
Carney received over 85% of the Liberal Party vote on promises of resisting President Donald Trump’s tariffs. The 59-year-old will now become the face of the Liberal Party shortly before federal elections, which will happen no later than Oct. 20.
In his acceptance speech, Carney criticized President Donald Trump for his tariffs, calling the United States “a country we can no longer trust” and attempting to discredit Conservative Party opponent Pierre Poilievre’s ability to counter American trade policies.
“Donald Trump thinks—thinks—he can weaken us with his plan to divide and conquer,” said Carney. “Pierre Poilievre’s plan will leave us divided and ready to be conquered, because a person who worships at the altar of Donald Trump will kneel before him, not stand up to him.”
Carney will take the helm at a time of some uncertainty. Trudeau announced his intentions to resign and called for national elections in January as his approval rating fell at the height of Trump’s tariff threats.
At the time, Conservative Party leader Poilievre appeared poised to succeed Trudeau, as he led in the polls.
But it appears the tariff fight has ended up empowering the Liberal Party—the antithesis of the Trump movement—as it has pulled ahead of the Conservative Party in recent polls.
Carney has presented himself as just the man to take on Trump, saying in his Sunday night speech that Canada “is rightly retaliating with our own tariffs that will have maximum impact in the United States and minimum impact here in Canada. My government will keep our tariffs on until the Americans show us respect.”
Despite his chest-beating Canada-first rhetoric, Carney has had a very international career.
Educated at Harvard and Oxford, Carney worked at Goldman Sachs’ offices in the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, and Japan.
Carney also holds citizenship in three countries: Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland. He has told the press he has begun the legal process of renouncing his non-Canadian citizenships.
He served as governor of the Bank of Canada from 2008 to 2013, and also as governor of the Bank of England from 2013 to 2020—positions comparable to the chairmanship of the Federal Reserve in the U.S.
Carney also has a long history of opposing American economic hegemony.
In 2019, as governor of the Bank of England, he suggested moving away from the U.S. dollar as the global currency standard.
That same year, toward the end of his tenure at the Bank of England, he became U.N. special envoy for climate action and finance, advocating for government regulations and business practices that discourage fossil fuel use.
In an interview posted to the United Nations’ website, Carney applauded regulations against fossil fuel consumption and spoke of a global trend of countries pushing for net-zero emissions.
“Companies, and those who invest in them and lend to them, and who are part of the solution, will be rewarded. Those who are lagging behind and are still part of the problem will be punished,” said Carney in a summary of global climate policies.
Carney’s white-collar environmentalism, coupled with his pugnacious attitude toward the White House, may complicate Trump’s requests that the construction of Canada’s Keystone XL pipeline be resumed as soon as possible.
Additionally, Carney’s occasionally anti-American economic attitudes could indicate unwillingness to go along with the Trump’s Cabinet members’ proposals of Canadian tariffs against China in solidarity with the U.S.
