--- title: Canada Is Entering an Era of Realpolitik description: With U.S. trade talks stalled, Canada's Mark Carney has been rebuilding ties with China and India, writes David Moscrop. canonical: https://time.com/7337391/canada-carney-economy-trade-trump/ author: David Moscrop article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-11-30T12:00:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-11T00:37:24.970Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Canada Is Entering an Era of Realpolitik og:description: With U.S. trade talks stalled, Canada's Mark Carney has been rebuilding ties with China and India, writes David Moscrop. og:url: https://time.com/7337391/canada-carney-economy-trade-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdd90b23edd60e67a/6998cc079fbc7c2da8d9aa60/GettyImages-2212423056.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: TOPSHOT-CANADA-POLITICS-CARNEY og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Canada Is Entering an Era of Realpolitik twitter:description: With U.S. trade talks stalled, Canada's Mark Carney has been rebuilding ties with China and India, writes David Moscrop. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdd90b23edd60e67a/6998cc079fbc7c2da8d9aa60/GettyImages-2212423056.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  IDEAS Time ideas # Canada Is Entering an Era of Realpolitik > Sponsored content. 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Patrick Doyle—AFP/Getty Images by [David Moscrop](https://time.com/author/david-moscrop/) ## David Moscrop Contributor David Moscrop is an Ottawa-based columnist, podcast host, and author. Nov 30, 2025 12:00 PM UTC When asked last weekend about stalled U.S.-Canada trade talks and when he’d last spoken with President Donald Trump, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney [replied](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c17x025jj21o), “Who cares? It’s a detail. I’ll speak to him again when it matters.” Days later, in the face of criticism and claims he wasn’t taking the issue seriously, Carney [walked back](https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/carney-mistake-who-cares-9.6992050) his comments, calling them “a poor choice of words about a serious issue.” Serious, indeed. For Canada, dealing with Trump is all but an existential issue—a question of sovereignty, economic security, and geopolitical strategy. Carney may have some defense for being abrupt. Trump last month [threatened](https://www.npr.org/2025/10/25/g-s1-95116/trump-canada-anti-tariffs-ad-import-tax) an additional 10% tariff on Canadian goods and froze talks after the province of Ontario released an ad on American TV networks that quoted former U.S. President Ronald Reagan as saying tariffs “hurt every American.” The spot infuriated Trump, who called it a “FRAUD.” Carney has since [apologized for ](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy4007deg2qo)the ad, and Trump has [quietly held off](https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/23/canada-tariffs-trump-00663710) on the additional tariff. Trump’s threats are a reminder of the challenges Carney, and Canada, face.A year ago, when Trump was preparing to return to office, Canada found itself singled out. Trump [had started](https://www.politico.eu/article/us-donald-trump-says-great-idea-to-make-canada-the-51st-state-justin-trudeau/) [suggesting](https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/articles/c99n7gmkmzzo) Canada should become the “51st state,” and tariffs pose an acute risk for a country that sends [over 75%](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/250205/dq250205a-eng.htm) of its exports south of the border. Trade makes up [two thirds](https://international.canada.ca/en/global-affairs/corporate/reports/chief-economist/state-trade/2025) of Canada’s GDP. **Read More:** [_How Canada Got Hooked on the U.S. Economy_](https://time.com/7225251/canada-dependent-us-economy-tariffs-trump/) Carney, who [took office in March](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgm1lg3gj7vo), has been trying to reduce or eliminate U.S. tariffs ahead of the [expected renegotiation](https://www.csis.org/analysis/usmca-review-2026) of USMCA next year. But achieving that may be like Waiting for Godot. Carney is traveling to the U.S. next week for the FIFA World Cup draw, and [will see Trump there](https://www.reuters.com/sports/soccer/carney-will-go-washington-soccer-draw-says-he-will-see-trump-2025-11-26/). But he said he doesn’t want to oversignal, and the U.S. hasn’t “[reengaged yet](https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/9.6993618)” on trade talks. As the prospect of a deal with Trump [erodes](http://nytimes.com/2025/11/26/world/canada/trump-carney-canada-tariffs-trade.html), Carney has [moved](https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2025/11/26/canada-announces-new-support-for-lumber-steel-industries-hit-by-tariffs) to keep crucial sectors afloat and his government is deepening ties with other nations. That includes countries that Canada had, until recently, faced diplomatic standoffs with. A notable example is the news last weekend that Canada and India are [restarting](https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/canada-india-agree-restart-trade-talks-says-indian-government-2025-11-23/) trade talks—with an aim to double bilateral trade to $50 billion by 2030\. It’s a significant shift from just two years earlier, when the government of former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused the Indian government of [involvement](https://globalnews.ca/news/11514695/intercepted-communications-india-temple-assassination-canada/) in the assassination of a Sikh Canadian on Canadian soil. The [fallout](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c89lne2k87vo) prompted the two nations to [expel each others’ diplomats](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/how-a-killing-at-a-sikh-temple-led-to-canada-and-india-expelling-each-others-diplomats). Another is Carney [meeting](https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/canada-china-carney-trade-talks-9.6961276) last month with Chinese leader Xi Jinping—the first such high-level engagement between the two states in eight years—to “resolve outstanding trade issues and irritants.” Relations had soured when Canadian authorities in 2018 [arrested](https://www.cbc.ca/news/meng-wanzhou-huawei-kovrig-spavor-1.6188472) Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou on a U.S. warrant for bank fraud. China shortly after arrested—[effectively kidnapped](https://macleans.ca/politics/china-kidnapped-two-canadians-what-will-it-take-to-free-them/)—Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig on what Ottawa called “[trumped-up](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/19/justin-trudeau-canada-china-trial-michael-spavor-espionage)” espionage charges. All three were released in 2021 but tensions between the two nations lingered. Canada today has little choice but to pursue trade with more nations, in light of the unprecedented threat posed by Trump. But even on the economic front, trade diversification can only achieve so much—at least in the short and medium term. And Canada ought to consider where its trade relations red lines will be, if it is to have any. It can’t sell and buy everything from, say, New Zealand. But Canada needs to have a deeper conversation about who it should do business with and how much, rather than simply reacting to Trump. Discussing Canada’s shift in tone in its relationship with India, Canadian foreign minister Anita Anand [said](https://apnews.com/article/canada-foreign-minister-canada-india-trump-trade-f0ddd87937c40f6094d3ce81d5bc01ec) it represented “a completely new approach to foreign policy that is responsive to the global economic environment in which we find ourselves.” That was a not-so-oblique reference to Trump and the global free trade regime that Carney has [said](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/31/era-of-free-trade-and-investment-over-canada-pm-mark-carney-apec-summit-korea) is all but dead and buried. All [signs](https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/uae-invest-up-50-billion-canada-industries-such-ai-energy-2025-11-21/) point to Canada entering an era of realpolitik, less precious and some might say less principled than the foreign and trade policy of years past but nonetheless focused on the bottom line of national prosperity. After all, you can’t eat your principles. 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