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Mark Carney will be sworn-in as the new Canadian Prime Minister, but now he must face Trump

Mark Carney, the former central banker of Canada, will be formally inaugurated as Prime Minister on Friday. This puts him in an ideal position to combat tariffs imposed by U.S. president Donald Trump which could destroy Canada's trade-dependent economy.

Carney will swear in as Canada's president at 11 am, with the Governor General Mary Simon present. She is the representative of King Charles. ET (1500 GMT).

This moment is the culmination of a remarkable rise for the 59 year old, who becomes Canada's first prime minister with no serious political experience.

Carney dominated his rivals in the race to be leader of the Liberal Party on Sunday. He will succeed Justin Trudeau who served in the office for more than nine long years.

Carney, the former head of the Bank of Canada as well as the Bank of England, successfully argued that his outsider status and history of dealing with crises made him the ideal person to face Trump, who repeatedly spoke of annexing Canada.

Carney told reporters on Wednesday that he would be ready to meet Trump if "there was respect for Canadian sovereignty."

He said that he would also continue to impose retaliatory duties on U.S. products until the United States shows Canada some respect.

Carney will name a cabinet, but it will not likely be in place for very long. Liberal insiders claim that he'll call an election within the next few days. Opposition parties have said that if he changes his decision, they will join forces to topple the minority Liberal government at the end March in a vote of confidence.

Carney's political options will be severely limited once the election is announced, because he cannot take major decisions while running for office.

According to the latest opinion polls, it is likely that neither party will gain enough seats to form a majority government. (Reporting and editing by Nia William in Ottawa, with David Ljunggren reporting from Ottawa)

(source: Reuters)