Mark Carney campaigned on a promise to stand up to Donald Trump.
Now, just a week into his premiership, he is heading into the Oval Office to do exactly that.
The new Canadian prime minister will meet the US president on Tuesday in what is expected to be a tense first encounter.
At stake are tariffs, sovereignty, and the future of one of the world’s most important trading relationships.
Trump has slapped Canada with steep duties on steel, aluminum, and auto parts, and has floated the idea of folding the country into the US as its “51st state”.
The rhetoric has played well with his base but sent shockwaves across Canada and helped Carney’s Liberal Party defy the odds to blow past the Conservatives and form a minority government.
Carney says he expects a “difficult” but “constructive” conversation, with trade, national security and economic ties all on the table. The White House has struck a more dismissive tone. Trump says he doesn’t know what Carney wants. His commerce secretary has called Canada a “socialist regime.”
With 77% of Canadian exports bound for the US, Carney arrives with both urgency and leverage.