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Mark Carney, the new Canadian prime minister, is headed to Paris and London seeking alliances as he deals with Donald Trump’s attacks on Canada’s sovereignty and economy.
Carney is deliberately making his first foreign trip to the capital cities of the two countries that shaped Canada’s early existence. At his swearing-in ceremony on Friday, Carney noted the country was built on the bedrock of three peoples: French, English and Indigenous. He said Canada was fundamentally different from the US and will “never, ever, in any way shape or form, be part of the United States”.
A senior government official briefed reporters on the plane before picking up Carney in Montreal and said the purpose of the trip was to double down on partnerships with Canada’s two founding countries. The official said Canada was a “good friend of the United States but we all know what is going on”.
Nelson Wiseman, professor emeritus at the University of Toronto, said: “The Trump factor is the reason for the trip. The Trump factor towers over everything else Carney must deal with.”
Carney, a former central banker who turned 60 on Sunday, will meet with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in Paris on Monday then travel to London to sit down with the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, in an effort to diversify trade and perhaps coordinate a response to Trump’s tariffs.
He will also meet with King Charles III, Canada’s head of state. The trip to England is a bit of a homecoming, as Carney is a former governor of the Bank of England, the first noncitizen to be named to the role in its more than 300 years.
Carney then travels to the edge of Canada’s Arctic to “reaffirm Canada’s Arctic security and sovereignty” before returning to Ottawa where he is expected to call an election within days.
Carney has said he is ready to meet with Trump if he shows respect for Canadian sovereignty. He said he did not plan to visit Washington at the moment but hoped to have a phone call with the president soon.
Sweeping tariffs of 25% and Trump’s talk of making Canada the 51st US state have infuriated Canadians, and many are avoiding buying American goods when they can.
Carney’s government is reviewing the purchase of US-made F-35 fighter jets in light of Trump’s trade war.
The governing Liberal party had appeared poised for a historic election defeat this year until Trump declared economic war and repeatedly said Canada should become the 51st state. Now the party and its new leader, Carney, could come out on top.
Robert Bothwell, a professor of Canadian history and international relations at the University of Toronto, said Carney was wise not to visit Trump. “There’s no point in going to Washington,” Bothwell said. “As [former prime minister Justin] Trudeau’s treatment shows, all that results in is a crude attempt by Trump to humiliate his guests.”
Bothwell said that Trump demands respect “but it’s often a one-way street, asking others to set aside their self-respect to bend to his will”.
Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal, said it was absolutely essential Canada diversify trade amid the trade war with the United States. More than 75% of Canada’s exports go to the US.
Béland said Arctic sovereignty was also a key issue for Canada. “President Trump’s aggressive talk about both Canada and Greenland and the apparent rapprochement between Russia, a strong Arctic power, and the United States under Trump have increased anxieties about our control over this remote yet highly strategic region.”
