Canada’s ruling Liberal Party on Sunday elected Mark Carney as the country’s next prime minister.

Carney, a former central banker, will replace Justin Trudeau who said in January that he will resign as the leader of the party and therefore as the prime minister. The transition is expected to take place this week.

The 59-year-old won 85.9% of the votes cast in the Liberal Party leadership polls. He defeated his party rival Chrystia Freeland, who is Trudeau’s former deputy prime minister.

In his speech after winning the vote on Sunday, Carney warned that the United States under President Donald Trump was seeking to take control of Canada and that the effort must be defeated.

“The Americans want our resources, our water, our land, our country…” Carney told party members. “If they succeed, they would destroy our way of life.”

Carney, who was the chief of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, accused Trump of “attacking Canadian workers, families and businesses”.

Ties between Canada and the United States have strained in recent months.

The Trump administration has imposed 25% tariffs on Canada, among other countries. The tax on imports took effect on March 4, when the Trudeau government imposed retaliatory tariffs on the United States.

Trump has also repeatedly said that Canada should be the 51st US state. The comments have angered Ottawa.

During the party leadership poll campaign, Carney had said that his government will look to diversify Canada’s trading relationships with “like-minded countries” and that “there are opportunities to rebuild the relationship with India”.

Ties between India and Canada have been strained since September 2023 when Trudeau told his country’s parliament that Canadian intelligence agencies were actively pursuing “credible allegations” tying agents of the Indian government to the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar near Vancouver.

Nijjar was a supporter of Khalistan, an independent Sikh nation sought by some groups. He was the head of the Khalistan Tiger Force, which is designated a terrorist outfit in India. India rejected Trudeau’s allegations as “absurd and motivated”.

While Canada must hold general elections by October, Carney is widely expected to call for snap polls much earlier amid the Opposition Conservative Party leading the opinion polls.

However, the Liberal Party has closed the gap significantly since Trudeau said he will step down and Carney announced his leadership campaign. This coincided with Trump’s comments and actions.

While announcing his resignation in January, Trudeau had said at the time that he would continue to hold the prime minister’s post till his party elects a new leader.

Trudeau had led Canada’s ruling Liberal Party since 2013. He has been prime minister since November 2015.

A poll released by research firm Ipsos in December found that 73% of Canadians, including 43% of Liberal voters, believed Trudeau should step down as the leader of his party.

Also read: Why Justin Trudeau’s resignation is no surprise: Trump threat, doomed election prospects