Mark Carney takes helm as Canada's PM amid US tensions under Trump 2.0

Mark Carney was sworn in as Canada’s prime minister on Friday, taking charge of a country rattled by a breakdown in US relations since President Donald Trump’s return to power.

The ruling Liberal Party (LP) overwhelmingly backed Carney to replace Justin Trudeau, betting his experience leading two central banks through historic crises will reassure Canadians facing a potentially devastating trade war.

“We’re going to get right to work,” he told reporters before taking the oath of office. The first cabinet meeting will be held following the swearing-in ceremony. Diplomatic sources told AFP he will make his first foreign trip as prime minister to Europe next week.

Carney, who turns 60 on Sunday, is a political novice who has never won an elected public office but his campaign skills will be tested soon with Canada likely headed for a general election in weeks.

The threats posed by Trump are expected to dominate the vote.

The US president has sought to bludgeon Canada, imposing sweeping import tariffs and threatening further levies while claiming the country is not “viable” on its own and should be annexed by Washington.

Carney, who was sworn in as Canada’s 24th prime minister at a ceremony in Ottawa, has described Trump’s stance as the most serious challenge Canada has faced in a generation. “Everything in my life has prepared me for this moment,” Carney said on Sunday after winning the Liberal Party leadership race.

He was an investment banker at Goldman Sachs before serving as governor of the Bank of Canada during the 2008-2009 financial crisis and also led the Bank of England through the turmoil surrounding the Brexit vote.

Carney has sought to present himself as purpose-built to lead a country through a trade war with the United States, once Canada’s closest ally but now a country that he says Canada can “no longer trust”.

At a Group of Seven meeting in Quebec, Canada’s Foreign Minister Melanie Joly, who keeps her job in the new cabinet, said Carney would bring a “new dynamic” to US diplomacy.

Speaking before Carney was sworn in, Joly said she and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is at the G7, were working on setting up a call between Trump and Carney “in the next couple of days”.

Carney’s team of 23 ministers, slimmed down from Trudeau’s 36, keeps the core of the old guard dealing with Washington, including Francois-Philippe Champagne in the finance portfolio, Dominic LeBlanc who moves to trade and Defence Minister Bill Blair.

Tightening race

Trump’s tariffs and insults have upended Canadian politics. At the start of the year, the Liberals were trailing the Conservatives by 20 points in the polls. But in the weeks since Trudeau announced his plans to resign on January 6, the race has tightened to a near draw.

“Carney is arriving at a good time. He has emerged as a figure people seem to trust to take on Donald Trump,” University of Winnipeg politics professor Felix Mathieu told AFP.

On the week Trump’s sweeping 25 per cent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports came into force, Carney visited a steel plant in Hamilton, an industrial city near the US border in the province of Ontario.

Wearing a hard hat and goggles, Carney said he was ready to work out a trade deal with Trump. But he insisted there must be “respect for Canadian sovereignty” in any negotiation.

Distance from Trudeau

Trudeau posted a goodbye message to Canadians on Thursday after nearly ten years in power, saying he was “proud to have served a country full of people who stand up for what’s right”.

Trudeau’s support had plummeted over the past year, but his standing partially rebounded following a series of resolute speeches in response to Trump.