Mark Carney, the newly elected leader of Canada’s Liberal Party, has strongly criticized US President Donald Trump, asserting that Canada will never be absorbed into the United States.
Carney, who is set to replace Justin Trudeau as Liberal leader, will now lead the party into the next federal election, which must be held before October. He is expected to face a tough battle against the Conservative Party, which is currently leading in the polls. While Carney assumes leadership of the party immediately, Trudeau will remain Canada’s prime minister for an unspecified transition period.
Tensions between the US and Canada have escalated under Trump’s presidency. The US president has blamed Canada for illegal immigration, threatened to make it the 51st state, and imposed steep tariffs on Canadian imports, citing efforts to curb fentanyl trafficking.
Following his election as Liberal leader, Carney addressed these tensions, promising to establish “new trading relationships with reliable partners” and maintain retaliatory tariffs against the US “until the Americans show us respect.”
“New threats demand new ideas and a new plan,” he told the Liberal Party convention on Sunday. “Canada will never be part of the US.”
Carney also criticized Trump’s economic policies, declaring, “He’s attacking Canadian families, workers, and businesses, and we cannot let him succeed—we won’t. In trade, as in hockey, Canada will win.”
The strained US-Canada relationship has led to growing anti-American sentiment, with fans at NHL and NBA games in Canada booing the US national anthem.
Carney will now go head-to-head with Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, who has been compared to Trump but recently distanced himself from the US president, stating at a press conference that he is “not MAGA.”
Ahead of the Liberal vote, Poilievre attacked Carney’s credentials, calling him “a leader ill-equipped to deal with Trump.”
“Working for Trudeau, Carney made Canada weaker and poorer; working for himself, Carney made the United States richer and stronger,” Poilievre said.
Carney fired back after winning the leadership race, saying, “Donald Trump thinks he can weaken us with his plan to divide and conquer. Pierre Poilievre’s plan will leave us divided and ready to be conquered.”
In one of his final speeches as Liberal Party leader, Trudeau warned that Canada faces an “existential challenge” from its southern neighbor.
“This is a nation-defining moment,” he said at the Liberal convention in Ottawa. “And now, as Canadians face from our neighbor an existential challenge, an economic crisis, Canadians are showing exactly what we are made of.”
