Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, has appointed financier and former BlackRock executive Mark Wiseman as Canada’s ambassador to the US, ahead of major trade talks with the Trump administration.
Wiseman, an experienced investment manager, takes on the task as Canada works to reset its strained relations with the US while preparing for a tense review of the current free trade deal.
His appointment follows current ambassador Kirsten Hillman’s announcement that she would be ending her tenure in Washington.
Carney said Wiseman “brings immense experience, extensive contacts and deep commitment” to the post at a “crucial time of transformation” for Canada and the US.
“As a core member of our negotiating team, he will help advance the interests of Canadian workers, businesses, and institutions, while building opportunities for both Canada and the United States,” the prime minister said in a statement on Monday.
The new ambassador is set to take on the role in mid-February, Carney added.
Wiseman, 55, reportedly a close friend of Carney’s, is currently a senior advisor and chairman of Canada at Lazard, a financial services company, and a senior advisor at Boston Consulting Group, a consultancy firm.
In March, Carney added him as a member of the prime minister’s council on Canada-US relations, a group formed to navigate the currently turbulent bilateral relationship.
The Yale alumni also previously worked in both New York and Paris as a lawyer with law firm Sullivan & Cromwell.
He is one of the co-founders of the Century Initiative, a charitable organisation that has lobbied for increased immigration levels in Canada, with the goal reaching 100 million people in the country by 2100 to support economic growth.
The role with Century Initiative stirred up criticism ahead of his appointment.
Conservative party leader Pierre Poilievre has accused Wiseman of being “someone who proposed a policy that inflates the cost of living, takes away jobs and puts pressure on our health care system”.
“Why does the Prime Minister want to appoint him as ambassador to Washington?”
Beyond domestic politics, Wiseman will face the currently thorny relationship between the US and Canada while in Washington.
Trump halted trade talks with Canada in late October in anger over an anti-tariff advertisement commissioned by the province of Ontario and aired in the US.
Trump has imposed sector-specific tariffs on Canadian metals, lumber and automotives.
He has also imposed a sweeping tariff rate of 35% on all goods, though most have been exempt under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) – known at the USMCA in the US – trade pact.
A scheduled review of CUSMA is now underway, starting with public hearings and stakeholder consultations, after which Canada, the US and Mexico could agree to renew it, or let it expire.
By BBC News
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