Canada's Prime Minister Carney names financier Mark Wiseman as the next ambassador to Washington

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TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced on Monday that financier Mark Wiseman will serve as the country's next ambassador to the United States, an appointment that comes at a critical time in relations between the two major trading partners.

Wiseman will assume the role on Feb. 15 and will be involved in negotiations with the U.S. regarding the review of their free trade agreement.

“Mark Wiseman brings immense experience, contacts, and deep commitment at this crucial time of transformation of our relationship with the United States,” Carney said in a statement. “As a core member of our negotiating team, he will help advance the interests of Canadian workers, businesses, and institutions.”

Wiseman replaces Kirsten Hillman, who announced her resignation earlier this month.

The U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade pact, or USMCA, is up for review in 2026. U.S. President Donald Trump negotiated the deal during his first term in office and included a clause to possibly renegotiate it in 2026.

Wiseman, 55, ran the investment fund of the Canada Pension Plan and also managed equity funds at the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. He is a friend of Carney, who ran the Bank of Canada from 2008 to 2013 and the Bank of England from 2013 to 2020.

In 2016 Wiseman became the senior managing director and global head of active equities at BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager.

Wiseman was once touted as a possible successor to BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, though his tenure at the company was cut short in 2019 when he departed after he failed to disclose a consensual relationship with a colleague.

He has since chaired the Alberta Investment Management Corp.

“Mark Wiseman is a business type with Wall Street connections whose profile is in sync with the current focus on trade and economic investment of both the Carney government and the Trump administration. Yet, Wiseman has no prior diplomatic experience," said Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal.

In October, Trump cut off tariff negotiations with Carney after the Ontario provincial government ran an antitariff advertisement in the U.S. It followed a spring of acrimony, since abated, over Trump’s insistence that Canada should become the 51st U.S. state.

Canada is the top export destination for 36 U.S. states. Nearly $3.6 billion Canadian ($2.7 billion) worth of goods and services cross the border each day.

About 60% of U.S. crude oil imports are from Canada, as are 85% of U.S. electricity imports.

Canada is also the largest foreign supplier of steel, aluminum and uranium to the U.S. and has 34 critical minerals and metals that the Pentagon is eager for and investing in for national security.