Carney's first six months: promises and progress
Six months into his tenure, Prime Minister Mark Carney is pursuing ambitious goals on trade, investment, and North American relations — but results remain early and mixed.
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Prime Minister Mark Carney is halfway through his first year with a sprawling mandate to reshape Canada's economy, reset trade relations with the U.S., and catalyze private investment. Early results show progress in some areas and stalled momentum in others.
On non-U.S. exports, one of Carney's flagship pledges, the government is showing movement. Exports to non-American markets now represent roughly one-third of the total, up from about a quarter before the trade war. The shift has been helped by surging gold and crude oil prices, but Carney is also pushing for new trade agreements with India and South America's Mercosur bloc by year's end. The target remains ambitious: double non-U.S. exports to $600 billion annually by 2035.
But his North American strategy faces tougher sledding. After 16 months of the U.S. trade war, American tariffs remain on autos, industrial metals, and wood products. Two rounds of intensive bilateral talks have failed to yield concessions. Carney initially pursued a comprehensive trade and security deal with the Trump administration, then narrowed his focus to winning relief on steel and aluminum tariffs. Most recently, he has offered "deeper integration" in key industries within a "Fortress North America" framework in exchange for lower tariffs — but Washington and Mexico have already begun bilateral USMCA renegotiations without Canada at the table.
On private-sector investment, the government committed to catalyzing $500 billion in new spending over five years through infrastructure fast-tracking, tax incentives, and regulatory streamlining. The Department of Finance says it is tracking the metric against Statistics Canada data, but relevant surveys have significant reporting lags — making early assessment difficult.
The Carney government is moving fast on announcements across immigration, foreign trade, and defence, but Ottawa residents and policy watchers are waiting to see whether the initiatives translate into tangible change.