Outside the oil patch, one of Canada’s hottest exports right now is Heated Rivalry, a TV show about two star hockey players whose passionate relationship is hidden behind the pretence of public enmity. Canada’s Mark Carney seems to be trying an economic version of this with his main trade partner, US President Donald Trump.
Carney has emerged as a leader of the economic resistance against Trump’s deglobalisation push, mostly because few others dare to speak up. The prime minister has reached for China as a counterweight and called, in a punchy speech to the Davos elites, for middle powers to band together. It’s a risky strategy in two ways.
First, Carney lays Canada open to retaliation from the US, on which his country is hugely reliant. Uncle Sam bought 73 per cent of Canada’s exports in the first 10 months of 2025, according to official data, versus 11 per cent in the opposite direction. Already, a mooted trade “partnership” with China has provoked a threat from the White House of 100 per cent tariffs on all goods shipped to the US.