New Canadian PM Carney vows to fight US trade war

Canada's new prime minister, Mark Carney, has vowed to take on Donald Trump and urged his country to unite in a defiant acceptance speech during a fierce trade war with the United States.

- ALEXANDER BUTLER

The former Bank of England governor, who will be sworn in as Justin Trudeau's successor in the coming days, was on Sunday night elected as Canada’s new prime minister by the country’s governing Liberal Party as tensions escalate over tariffs with its closest neighbour.

After winning with with 85.9 per cent of the votes cast by 150,000 members, Mr Carney hit out at Mr Trump for “attacking Canadian families” and wanting to “destroy the Canadian way of life”, describing the US president’s tariffs and threats as the “greatest crisis of our lifetime”.

“There is someone who is trying to weaken our economy. Donald Trump. Donald Trump has put unjustified tariffs on what we build, sell and how we make a living,” he said.

After the US last week slapped sweeping 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods, Canada retaliated with its own 25 per cent tariffs on up to $155bn in US goods over the course of this month.

Mr Trudeau said in a televised address last week: “It’s not in my habit to agree with the