TORONTO (AP) — New Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and his Conservative opponent said U.S. President Donald Trump must respect Canada’s sovereignty as they kicked off their election campaigns Sunday against the backdrop of a trade war and Trump’s annexation threats.

Carney announced a five-week election campaign before the vote on April 28.

“We are facing the most significant crisis of our lifetimes because of President Trump’s unjustified trade actions and his threats to our sovereignty,” Carney said.

“President Trump claims that Canada isn’t a real country. He wants to break us so America can own us. We will not let that happen,” he added.

The governing Liberals appeared poised for a historic election defeat this year until Trump declared a trade war. He has repeatedly said Canada should become the 51st U.S. state and has acknowledged he’s upended Canadian politics.

Trump’s almost daily attacks on Canada’s sovereignty have infuriated Canadians and led to a surge in Canadian nationalism that has bolstered Liberal poll numbers.

“They want our resources. They want our water. They want our land. They want our country. Never,” Carney said at a rally in Newfoundland.

The election campaign for 343 seats or districts in the House of Commons will last 37 days. Although other parties are running, the Liberals and the Conservatives are the only two that have a chance to form a government. The party that commands a majority in Parliament, either alone or with the support of another party, will form the next government and its leader will be prime minister.

Carney replaced Justin Trudeau, who announced his resignation in January but remained in power until the Liberal Party elected a new leader following a leadership race.

The opposition Conservatives hoped to make the election about Trudeau, whose popularity declined as food and housing prices rose and immigration surged. But after decades of bilateral stability, the vote is now expected to focus on who is best equipped to deal with Trump.

Carney said the choice for Canadians is a “Canadian Trump or a government that unites.”

“Canadians are always ready when someone else drops the gloves,” Carney said in a hockey reference. “In this trade war, just like in hockey, we will win.”

Trump put 25% tariffs on Canada’s steel and aluminum and is threatening sweeping tariffs on all Canadian products — as well as all of America’s trading partners — on April 2.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is Carney’s main challenger. The party and Poilievre were heading for a huge victory in Canada’s election until Trump’s near-daily trade and annexation threats derailed them.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, a conservative ally, said Poilievre would be “very much in sync” with the “new direction in America.”

“The content of this interview is very bad news for the Conservatives because it reinforces the Liberals’ narrative about Pierre Poilievre and his perceived ideological proximity with Donald Trump,” said Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal.

Poilievre said he will stand up to Trump.

“I will insist the president recognizes the independence and sovereignty of Canada. I will insist he stops tariffing our nation,” he said as he launched his campaign.

“I know a lot of people are worried, angry and anxious. And with good reason as a result of the president’s unacceptable threats against our country,” Poilievre said.

Carney still hasn’t had a phone call with Trump and that might not happen now until after the election. Trump mocked Trudeau by calling him governor, but he has not yet mentioned Carney’s name.

“Trump must recognize that Canada is a sovereign country,” Carney said. “He has to say that, he has to accept that, before we can have a discussion about a trade agreement. … Let’s just say there is no meeting that has been planned.”

Carney, 60, was the head of the Bank of Canada during the 2008 financial crisis. In 2013, he became the first noncitizen of the United Kingdom to run the Bank of England, helping to manage the impact of Brexit.

Carney, a political novice, said Canadians want change and he’s moved the Liberal Party to the right, announcing a middle-class tax cut Sunday and scrapping Trudeau’s signature carbon tax and reversing a capital gains tax increase.

Poilievre, 45, for years the party’s go-to attack dog, is a career politician and firebrand populist who says he will put “Canada first.” Elon Musk, who is playing an integral role in the Trump administration, has endorsed and praised him.

PARIS (AP) — New Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney met with French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday during his first official overseas trip, seeking support from one of Ottawa’s oldest allies as U.S. President Donald Trump attacks Canada’s sovereignty and economy.

Macron and Carney did not take journalists’ questions ahead of the talks, a sign the French president might not want to upset Trump.

Macron did not address Trump’s attacks on Canada but noted that tariffs only bring inflation.

“In the current international context, we want to be able to develop our most strategic projects with our closest, more loyal partners,” Macron said, adding that “we are stronger together, better able to ensure the respect of our interests, the full exercise of our sovereignty.”

Carney was sworn in on Friday. He will next visit Britain, where he will meet with Prime Minister Keir Starmer and King Charles III, the head of state in Canada. Starmer is also not expected to hold a joint news conference.

Carney will also travel to the edge of Canada’s Arctic to reaffirm the country’s security and sovereignty.

Carney has chosen the two European capital cities that shaped Canada’s early existence. During his swearing-in, he noted the country was built on the bedrock of three peoples, French, English and Indigenous. He said Canada is fundamentally different from America and will “never, ever, in any way shape or form, be part of the United States.”

“I want to ensure that France, and the whole of Europe, works enthusiastically with Canada, the most European of non-European countries, and at the same time resolutely North American, determined, like you, to maintain the most positive relations possible with the United States,” Carney said Monday.

Since Trump came to office, he has imposed whopping tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum and repeatedly commented on turning Canada into the 51st state, infuriating Canadians and sparking a call to boycott U.S. products across the country.

Trump also threatened to impose sweeping tariffs on all of America’s trading partners on April 2.

Macron said fair trade “is certainly more effective than tariffs, which create inflation and damage supply chains and our economic integration.”

Carney’s choice of itinerary emphasizes Canada’s strong connection with the two former colonial powers, said Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal.

“The fact that Canada never broke away from the U.K. in a violent fashion is a key historical and institutional difference between the United States and Canada, a constitutional monarchy rather than a republic that has adopted and retained a U.K.-style parliamentary system,” Béland said.

The trip to London will be a kind of homecoming. Carney became the first non-British governor in the Bank of England’s 319-year history when he took the job on July 1, 2013. He served until March 15, 2020.

Carney, who turned 60 on Sunday, has said he’s ready to meet with Trump if he shows respect for Canadian sovereignty. He said he doesn’t plan to visit Washington at the moment but hopes to have a phone call with the president soon. His government is also reviewing the purchase of U.S.-made F-35 fighter jets in light of Trump’s trade war.

Meanwhile, Macron has been increasing efforts to persuade France’s allies to move away from purchases of American military hardware, which also coincides with mounting concerns in Europe that European defenses are overly dependent on U.S. weaponry, technical support and goodwill.

Macron touched on the French-British plan for securing any ceasefire in Ukraine.

“This common commitment at the side of the Ukrainians has always aimed for a peace that is solid and lasting,” Macron said. “Canada and France are powers of peace, reliable allies, which will take part together in this effort.” He did not give details.

Carney spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy by phone late Sunday and invited him to the G7 summit this summer that Canada is hosting.

Trump said he would speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday as he pushes to end the war in Ukraine.

Carney is expected to call a parliamentary election by the end of the week, to take place in late April or early May. Canada’s governing Liberal Party had appeared poised for a historic election defeat this year until Trump declared economic war. Now, the party and its new leader could come out on top.

Associated Press writers John Leicester in Paris and Danica Kirka in London contributed to this report.

Mark Carney will soon replace Justin Trudeau as Canada’s prime minister following his landslide victory in the governing Liberal Party’s election.

Carney, a former governor of the Bank of England and the Bank of Canada with no political experience — and no seat in the House of Commons — will take over the leadership of both his party and his country at a time of profound uncertainty prompted by U.S. President Donald Trump’s adversarial stance toward his neighbor as a general election looms.

Carney is expected to call snap elections shortly after being sworn into office, and voter surveys show his party within fighting distance of his main opposition: the Conservative Party, led by Pierre Poilievre.

The Conservatives had long been considered the favorites to win the next election, which needs to be held by October. Trump’s talk of annexing Canada and his tariffs against the country have reshaped the race, overshadowing issues such as inflation and immigration that appeared to originally dominate voters’ minds.

“Trump has said he’s the most important person in Canadian politics right now,” said Nick Taylor-Vaisey, Politico Ottawa bureau chief. “I think everybody in Canada would acknowledge that.”

The latest polling average, updated by The Economist on Saturday, shows the Liberals trailing the Conservatives by 7 percentage points — a far slimmer margin compared to the 25-point difference between the two parties in late December, prior to Trudeau’s resignation announcement. Voters also appear to favor Carney over Poilievre, a recent poll found.

“Momentum is with [Carney] and his party,” The Economist said in a column Monday. “Whether that will be enough to deliver victory — and to keep Mr. Trump at bay— is yet to be seen.”

Carney, a former Goldman Sachs executive, sought to highlight his determination to protect his country from Trump in his first speech, pledging to maintain Canada’s tariffs on the U.S. “until the Americans show us respect and and until they can join us in making credible and reliable commitments to free and fair trade.”

Last week, Trump imposed 25% tariffs on many Canadian goods before reversing course and postponing some of them while also threatening new tariffs on dairy and lumber.

“The Americans want our resources, our water, our land, our country,” Carney said. “Think about it: If they succeeded, they would destroy our way of life. In America, health care is a big business. In Canada, it is a right.”

“America is not Canada, and Canada never, ever will be part of America in any way, shape or form,” he continued.

Meanwhile, some voters appear to worry that Poilievre’s style is too similar to Trump’s — a perception that’s been amplified by ads run by the Liberals that show the Conservative Party leader echoing Trump’s rhetoric, including on “fake news.”

“At a time when Trump is toxic in Canada, that image is not helping Poilievre,” David McLaughlin, a former senior official in previous Conservative governments in Canada, told The Wall Street Journal.

Poilievre has recognized those concerns, speaking out forcefully against Trump, adjusting his party’s messaging and seeking to tie Carney to Trudeau, who has been widely unpopular despite the slight rebound in his approval rating in recent weeks.

Andrew Enns, the executive vice president of the Central Canada operations of Leger, a market research company, told Bloomberg that while the shift of the election’s focus on Trump poses a big challenge for Poilievre, Carney is still an unknown figure to most Canadians, meaning their perception of him could change as he assumes the top job.

“Carney’s had an impact, I’m not going to take that away from him, but the bigger change has been this whole Trump environment,” Enns said. “Tariffs have repositioned how Canadians are viewing the Canadian government now.”

TORONTO (AP) — Former central banker Mark Carney will become Canada’s next prime minister after the governing Liberal Party elected him its leader Sunday as the country deals with U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war and annexation threat, and a federal election looms.

Carney, 59, replaces Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who announced his resignation in January but remains prime minister until his successor is sworn in in the coming days.

Carney navigated crises when he was the head of the Bank of Canada and when in 2013 he became the first noncitizen to run the Bank of England since it was founded in 1694. His appointment won bipartisan praise in the U.K. after Canada recovered from the 2008 financial crisis faster than many other countries.

The opposition Conservatives hoped to make the election about Trudeau, whose popularity declined as food and housing prices rose and immigration surged.

Trump’s trade war and his talk of making Canada the 51st U.S. state have infuriated Canadians, who are booing the American anthem at NHL and NBA games. Some are canceling trips south of the border, and many are avoiding buying American goods when they can.

The surge in Canadian nationalism has bolstered the Liberal Party’s chances in a parliamentary election expected within days or weeks.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

TORONTO (AP) — Canada’s governing Liberals will announce a replacement for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Sunday as the country deals with U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats and as a federal election looms.

Liberal Party members look set to pick former central bank governor Mark Carney as the new party leader and Canada’s next prime minister in a vote to be announced on Sunday evening.

Carney, 59, navigated crises when he was the head of the Bank of Canada and when in 2013 he became the first noncitizen to run the Bank of England since it was founded in 1694. His appointment won bipartisan praise in the U.K. after Canada recovered from the 2008 financial crisis faster than many other countries.

The opposition Conservatives hoped to make the election about Trudeau, whose popularity declined as food and housing prices rose and immigration surged. Trudeau announced his resignation in January, but remains prime minister until a successor is chosen and sworn in. Election laws mandate a general election before the fall, but one is expected this spring.

Trump’s trade war and his talk of making Canada the 51st U.S. state have infuriated Canadians, who are booing the American anthem at NHL and NBA games. Some are canceling trips south of the border, and many are avoiding buying American goods when they can.

The surge in Canadian nationalism has bolstered the Liberal Party’s chances in a parliamentary election expected within days or weeks, and Liberal showings have been improving steadily in opinion polls.

“We have made this the greatest country in the world and now our neighbors want to take us. No way,” Carney said.

After decades of bilateral stability, the vote on Canada’s next leader now is expected to focus on who is best equipped to deal with the United States.

Carney has picked up one endorsement after another from Cabinet ministers and members of Parliament since declaring his candidacy in January. He is a highly educated economist with Wall Street experience who has long been interested in entering politics and becoming prime minister, but he lacks political experience.

The other top Liberal leadership candidate is former Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland. Trudeau told Freeland in December that he no longer wanted her as finance minister, but that she could remain deputy prime minister and the point person for U.S.-Canada relations. Freeland resigned shortly after, releasing a scathing letter about the government that proved to be the last straw for Trudeau.

The party is also expected to pay tribute to Trudeau on Sunday evening. More than 151,000 Liberal members voted.

“There is a remarkable wave of patriotism across our country,” Freeland said. “All of us have one message for Donald Trump tonight. Canada will never be the 51st state.”

The new leader is expected to trigger an election shortly afterward. Either the new Liberal party leader will call one, or the opposition parties in Parliament could force one with a no-confidence vote later this month.