Mark Carney: Has the world found its new anti-Trump mask?

In Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, the liberals of the world are looking for a leader who could take on US President Donald Trump.

Carney has presided over a stunning victory of the Liberal Party. In January, Liberals were set to lose to Conservatives in a landslide. Then came an unprecedented territorial and economic aggression from Trump that rallied people around the flag. After the resignation of Trudeau, Carney campaigned on the plank of ‘Canada Strong’ whereas Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre campaigned on ‘Canada First’ that made him look like Trump knock-off.

The result was that Carney led the Liberals to their fourth straight election victory and Poilievre lost his own seat as well as a chance to form government.

With Carney setting a template for standing up to Trump, the liberals of the world are looking up to him to play a leading role in creating a counter-balance to Trump. Carney knows this and he is up for the job.

“Canada is ready to take a leadership role in building a coalition of like-minded countries who share our values. We believe in international cooperation. We believe in the free and open exchange of goods, services and ideas. And if the United States no longer wants to lead, Canada will,” said Carney on the campaign trail.

Carney aiming at Canada-Europe partnership

Amid a common challenge from Trump, Carney is aiming to weave a partnership between Canada and Europe. He has already made a visit to Europe.

In his election victory speech, Carney said that the relationship with the United States that had stood for generations is over. He said the new focus would be on Europe and Asia.

“We will strengthen our relations with reliable partners in Europe, Asia and elsewhere. We will chart a new path forward because this is Canada and we decide what happens here. We will need to think big and act bigger. We will need to do things previously thought impossible at speeds we haven’t seen in generations,” said Carney.

However, experts say that Carney would not want to pitch Canada as part of some opposition to Trump or the United States.

Carney will need to muster his global coalition “without waving a giant red flag in front of Donald Trump”, said Roland Paris, a professor of international affairs at University of Ottawa who previous served as an adviser to former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

“It will be a difficult tightrope or balancing act for him. He and Canada have an interest in coordinating with other like-minded countries, but without necessarily setting up Canada as the organizer of an opposition. Why turn Canada into that kind of target?” said Paris.

Carney’s experience as the head of central banks of two G7 countries gives him an edge in this project — he ran the Bank of Canada during 2008-13 and Bank of England during 2013-20. Addressing Canada’s economic and cost-of-living woes would be top priorities besides standing up to Trump’s threat of annexation.

Standing up with strength — not appeasement

Carney has also proved to the world that standing up with resolve and strength works with Trump and not appeasement.

In an article in Financial Times, Edward Luce noted that all those leaders who have tried to copy Trump or appease him have failed. He further said that Trump has no loyalty to those who extend him friendship and obeisance comes at a cost.

Citing examples of former Canadian PM Trudeau, who rushed to Mar-a-Lago to meet Trump, Luce said: “Not only does Trump disrespect sycophants, he goes out of his way to humiliate them. That also applies to foreign leaders. Trudeau got on a plane to Palm Beach in November when Trump first threatened tariffs on America’s neighbours. Mexico’s leader, Claudia Sheinbaum, did not make the trek. Trump speaks of her with respect; he kept taunting Trudeau as ‘governor of the 51st state’.”

As for Conservative Party leader, who turned his campaign into a semi-Republican Party platform with ‘Canada First’ appearing like a nod to Trump’s agenda, Luce said: “Poilievre sold himself as a milder version of Trump. Peter Dutton, leader of Australia’s (conservative) Liberal party, has done so more brashly. Both locked themselves into a cage of someone else’s making. When Trump took steps to harm their nations’ economies, they could not easily repudiate him. Even low information voters know a flip-flopper when they see one.”

Carney, like President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico, has set an example in front of the world of how strength works with Trump, not obedience.

In his election speech, Carney made it clear: “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons. We have to look out for ourselves and above all we have to take care of each other. When I sit down with President Trump, it will be to discuss the future economic and security relationship between two sovereign nations. And it will be with our full knowledge that we have many, many other options than the United States to build prosperity for all Canadians.”