- Mark Carney is expected to replace Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the coming days.
- The Harvard graduate and former Goldman Sachs banker headed two central banks.
- Canada’s ruling Liberal Party elected Carney to replace Trudeau on Sunday.
Mark Carney, the former governor of Canada’s and England’s central banks, is expected to replace Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau just as the country faces a chapter of uncertainty over tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump.
The Harvard graduate and former Goldman Sachs banker was elected as the leader of Canada’s ruling Liberal Party on Sunday. Carney’s predecessor, Trudeau, said he would step down as party leader in January.
Carney, 59, is expected to be sworn in as prime minister in the coming days. An election to determine the next prime minister must happen by October, but it could be called sooner.
Until then, the country will have to navigate Trump’s 25% tariffs, which he imposed on March 4 but delayed until April 2.
The tariff turnaround, combined with Trump’s comments on making Canada the 51st state of the US, has ignited a defensive fervor in Canada.
Carney referenced Canada’s relationship with the US during his victory speech on Sunday.
“I know that these are dark days. Dark days brought on by a country we can no longer trust,” Carney said.
Carney’s financial sector background
Carney has never held political office but has a deep history in the financial sector.
He was born in Fort Smith, in the Northwest Territories, and graduated from Harvard, where he played ice hockey. He spent 13 years at Goldman Sachs, working at the investment bank’s offices in London, Tokyo, New York, and Toronto.
Carney led two central banks at pivotal moments.
After leaving Goldman Sachs in 2003, Carney served as deputy governor of the Bank of Canada. He was made governor in 2008, at the start of the global financial crisis. He was the first non-British governor of the Bank of England from 2013 through 2020, where he guided the bank’s response to Brexit.
Since leaving the Bank of England, Carney has held a mix of commercial and international roles. He was appointed vice chair of Brookfield Asset Management in 2020 and was made chair after the division was spun out as a new company in 2022.
In 2021, Carney became a board member of Stripe, a digital payments company. He was named as the chair of Bloomberg’s board in 2023.
That is on top of his work with international organizations. Before he left the Bank of England, Carney was appointed UN special envoy on climate action and finance in 2019. In 2021, Carney launched the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, a global climate-finance coalition.
In January, Carney said while announcing his leadership bid for the Liberal Party that he had resigned from all his commercial and international roles.
What he thinks about Trump’s tariff threats
In his victory speech Sunday, Carney didn’t hold back on Trump’s tariff threats. At times, he spoke as though he were facing off against the American president rather than his expected opponent, Pierre Poilievre, the leader of Canada’s Conservative Party.
Carney threatened to impose dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs that would have “maximum impact in the United States.”
“My government will keep our tariffs on until the Americans show us respect, and until they can join us in making credible and reliable commitments to free and fair trade,” Carney said on Sunday.
Carney didn’t hold back on Trump during his speech.
“Trump, as we know, has put, as the prime minister just said, unjustified tariffs on what we build, on what we sell, on how we make a living,” Carney said. “He’s attacking Canadian families, workers, and businesses, and we cannot let him succeed, and we won’t.”
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