Arriving at the Prime Minister's office for the first day of his new mandate, Mark Carney immediately faced the question in the minds of many Canadians: when would Donald Trump speak?
“We will see”, ” Carney told journalists with a smile, before delimiting the stairs to his office in Ottawa. In fact, the newly elected chief of Canada has not wasteped time. Carney and the American president spoke on the phone later Tuesday and agreed to meet in person “in the near future”.
Starting a new dialogue with Trump is by far the most urgent task for the Government of Carney.
The former central banker won the resentment elections of Canadians towards American prices and Trump's threats against their sovereignty. He told voters that the decades' trade and security relations with the United States were “finished”.
Now he must turn to the construction of a new relationship. A senior assistant said that the call with Trump was “cordial” and that Carney focuses on the summit of the June G7 – which he will welcome in the city of Mountain Rocky in Kananaskis – as a place of face -to -face talks.
“We have the G7, so we cannot allow ourselves to wait,” said the advisor.
Carney will have to balance the patriotic indignation of voters, because many cancel trips to the United States and boycott American products, with his need to persuade Trump to conclude an agreement.
The chiefs of the industry quickly urged Carney to supervise negotiations with the United States as revision and extension of the US agreement, Mexico and Canada-the North American free trade agreement concluded the president's first mandate.
“Business leaders in the three countries agree that the agreement must continue to serve as a central mechanism to govern trade and investment, dispute resolution and increase in competitiveness and continental productivity,” said Goldy Hyder, chief of the Business Council of Canada on Tuesday.
Companies and investors hope that the renegotiation of the agreement could break the cycle of pricing threats and short extensions. Hyder said that USMCA was the best framework “to restore the certainty, stability and predictability of the annual commercial relationship of 1.3 TN ($ 940 billion).
Relations with the United States remain heavy. As polls opened in Canada for Monday elections Trump posted on Truth Social that Canadians should vote to become the 51st US state.
Tammy Bruce, spokesperson for the American State Department, reiterated the justifications that Trump had used to impose prices – from the problems on which he had hammered the predecessor of Carney, Justin Trudeau, on Tuesday.
“We are impatient to work with the government of Prime Minister Carney, in particular on key issues such as commercial equity, the fight against illegal immigration, the end of the flow of fentanyl and other dangerous drugs and to counter the influence of the Chinese Communist Party in our hemisphere,” she said.
The speech of Carney's electoral victory early Tuesday morning described a plan to strengthen relations with “reliable partners” in Europe, Asia and the rest of the world.
“If the United States no longer wants to be at the forefront of the global economy, Canada will do so. We are masters in our own house. We will build millions of housing. We will become an energy superpower,” he said.
But despite the ambitious speech, there are severe economic realities. Canada depends on American buyers for its exports, while US midwest oil refineries depend on Canada as the largest foreign oil supplier in the United States. Shipping oil and other resources elsewhere is much more expensive.
Carney will also have work to do with him with servants policy. The last number of votes on Tuesday afternoon confirmed that it had won the greatest number of seats – and the right to form a government – but that it has not dropped three seats less than a parliamentary majority.
He must conclude an agreement to obtain parliamentary support, probably with the New Democratic Party, which had supported the administration of Trudeau. The support of the center-left party collapsed and its leader, Jagmeet Singh, lost his seat. But their remaining seven members are sufficient to push the legislation by parliament.
The conservative party worked better than expected, winning 7.6% in the popular vote compared to its electoral performance in 2021 – although its leader, Pierre Hairy, lost his own seat.
Carney won the popular vote by only 2.4%, after winning 11.1% of the previous count of the Liberals under Trudeau.
Carney will also have to announce a new cabinet, balancing the lieutenants of Trudeau such as the Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly and the Minister of Trade Dominic Leblanc with his rival for the management of Chrystia Freeland, as well as new faces.
The new leader will face a choir of support for national industries such as autophile, aluminum and steel, for which American prices threaten generalized job losses or business closings.
The oil sector in Canada also wants to make the most of Trump hostilities by finding new export buyers.
“The development of our world -class oil and natural gas resources to their full potential by increasing our exports to international markets will strengthen our energy security and our economic sovereignty,” said Lisa Baiton, director general of the Canadian Association of Oil Producers.
This could be difficult conversations for Carney, who was a high -level defender of the “green transition”.
Although they are described as a political novice, which became a deputy only on Monday, people who know Carney say that he should not be underestimated.
The former governor of the Indian Central Bank Raghuram Rajan, who has known the new Canadian leader for two decades, said: “Carney is extremely capable and always well prepared.”
