Mark Wiseman, a high-profile financier who rose through Canada’s pension-fund world to the top of major U.S. financial institutions, has been named Canada’s new ambassador to the United States at a watershed moment in the relationship between the two countries.
On Monday, Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada said Mr. Wiseman would start his job in mid-February.
“Mark Wiseman brings immense experience, contacts, and deep commitment at this crucial time of transformation of our relationship with the United States,” Mr. 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, while building opportunities for both Canada and the United States.”
Mr. Wiseman will replace Ambassador Kristen Hillman at a fraught time in the relationship between Canada and the United States. The two countries have traditionally been the closest of allies and trading partners, but that bond has been ruptured since President Trump’s re-election. Mr. Trump has taken an aggressive stance toward Canada, including repeatedly stating that he wants the country to become America’s 51st state.
Even though he has in recent months avoided repeating this line, the president has imposed hefty tariffs on a handful of important sectors for the Canadian economy such as autos, steel and aluminum.
The new ambassador will quickly face the review of the United States-Canada-Mexico free-trade agreement, the successor to NAFTA, as Canada tries to restore its preferential status as the United States’ top trading partner. Ms. Hillman, the outgoing ambassador, was a key member of Canada’s negotiating team with Washington.
The review could lead to fundamental changes in the relationship, including the reintroduction of broader tariffs, or even the collapse of the agreement altogether, which could spell the end of the free-trade era in North America.
The Trump administration’s animus against Canada has been pronounced, bewildering Canadians who feel betrayed and angry at the fraying of the almost familial bond with the United States. The U.S. ambassador to Canada has been particularly harsh in his critique of Canada, adding more tension to an already embittered phase of the relationship.
Most recently, Mr. Trump called off protracted trade talks aimed at easing tariffs on certain Canadian goods, after the provincial government of Ontario paid to broadcast an anti-tariff ad in the United States, quoting President Ronald Reagan. Mr. Trump decried the ad as interference in American domestic affairs. Mr. Carney apologized for the ad, though the federal government was not responsible for it, but the talks have not restarted.
Mr. Wiseman was born in Ontario and educated at Canadian universities before heading to Yale to study law. Over his career he held high-level position in law firms, business consultancies and finance firms.
He has served in senior positions in major Canadian institutions, too, including recently as the head of the Alberta Investment Management Corporation, and, earlier in his career, as chief executive at Canada’s Pension Plan Investment Board.
Mr. Wiseman was a top executive at the investment firm BlackRock, headquartered in New York City, and had been touted as a possible future chief executive there. But he left the company in 2019 over his failure to report a personal relationship with a subordinate. He accepted responsibility for the situation at the time.
Matina Stevis-Gridneff is the Canada bureau chief for The Times, leading coverage of the country.
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