Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has completed his first year in office, a period marked by aggressive trade actions and territorial threats from the United States under President Donald Trump. Experts say Carney has managed to steer Canada toward a more independent foreign policy, resisting pressure to rush into a deal with Washington.
“The most notable aspect of the last year was both a bullet dodged and a savvy bit of statecraft to avoid a rush to do a deal on trade and invest with the US the way many other countries did,” said Brett House, a senior fellow at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy. He added that “commitments from this president are absolutely worthless” and praised Carney for “standing strong and resolute in the face of internal critics.”
Carney has used Trump’s attacks on allies to refocus Canada’s foreign policy. With the US no longer seen as an anchor of the rules-based order, Ottawa is aiming to build at home and diversify abroad. “He’s doing this at a speed, scale and ambition that we haven’t seen in recent years,” said Vina Nadjibulla, vice president of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada.
Key moves include inviting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the G7 meeting to reset ties frozen after Trudeau’s allegations of Indian involvement in a Sikh activist’s killing. Carney also recalibrated relations with China and deepened ties with Japan, South Korea, Australia, and Europe.
Carney has positioned himself as a centrist, focusing on economy and trade while avoiding other issues. According to a March Ipsos poll, 58% of Canadians approve of him, up 10% from a year ago. However, critics worry that his major projects bill undermines consultation with Indigenous communities.
The biggest challenge in his second year will be the review of the USMCA trade pact starting July 1. The US wants Canada to align its external tariffs with US tariffs, which conflicts with Canada’s efforts to diversify trade, including deals with China on electric cars and agriculture.
Source: www.aljazeera.com