No, We Didn’t Get Played

Mark Carney’s approach to Trump is not appeasement, but serious statecraft.

A Knight and a Dragon

In the archetype of politics-as-theatre, Donald Trump plays the dragon—volatile, menacing, unpredictable. Mark Carney, newly elected Prime Minister of Canada, is cast as the knight sworn to defend the realm. Canadians wanted someone who would stand firm, not fold. It’s tempting to expect the knight to meet fire with fire, to ride out in loud defiance. But that’s not how real leadership works—especially when the stakes are this high.

Here’s what the self-styled strategists get wrong: charging straight at a dragon doesn’t guarantee victory. It usually gets you burned.

Carney’s early move to call Trump, to talk about working together, isn’t weakness. It’s strategy. He said during the campaign, loud and clear, that he’d never let the U.S. “own us.” And he hasn’t. Instead, he’s governing like someone who understands how power operates in the real world: through leverage, alliances, and smart timing—not theatrical bravado.

Diplomacy Isn’t Capitulation

During the campaign, Carney made his stance clear. In his victory speech, he warned Canadians: Trump “wanted to break us, so that America can own us,” and promised: “That will never, ever happen.”

Some partisan critics now claim it was all for show—that Carney exaggerated the threat to rally support, only to turn around and strike a deal. They want Canadians to believe that unless he charges in and chops off the dragon’s head, we’ve been duped.

But the day after the election, Trump congratulated Carney, and both leaders publicly affirmed their commitment to cooperation “as independent, sovereign nations.”

That’s not a surrender. It’s the beginning of a diplomatic strategy.

Good leaders don’t provoke bullies. They outthink them.

This is basic foreign policy. You don’t engage an unpredictable adversary by shouting into the wind. You talk, you listen, you gather information— and you keep every option at the ready.

The Power of Smart Statecraft

What Carney is doing is textbook soft power. As political scientist Joseph Nye puts it, soft power is “the ability to shape the preferences of others” without coercion. It’s persuasion. It’s influence. It’s using values, relationships, and credibility instead of threats.

Carney understands that building leverage means understanding Trump’s interests, not just resisting them. That’s not surrender. That’s strategy.

He’s also relying on realism. Canada doesn’t have the military or economic power to browbeat the U.S. into anything. But we do have allies. We have trade relationships. We have international law. And we have a Prime Minister who’s capable of using all of those tools effectively.

Finally, there’s strategic ambiguity—something every effective leader uses. Carney isn’t broadcasting his entire game plan. That’s a good thing. Negotiation works better when the other side doesn’t know what’s coming next.

So let’s be clear:

• Soft power means influence through diplomacy, not noise.

• Realism means focusing on what works, not what makes headlines.

• Strategic ambiguity means keeping the other side off-balance.

That’s not weakness. That’s leadership.

Carney Has Done This Before

Mark Carney isn’t a political rookie. By all accounts he’s one of the most experienced crisis managers in the world.

Reuters called him a “two-time central banker and crisis fighter”—the only person ever to run two G7 central banks. He took over as Governor of the Bank of Canada in 2008, during the global financial meltdown. At 42, he created emergency liquidity programs to keep our economy afloat. Later, as Governor of the Bank of England, he helped Britain navigate the chaos of Brexit.

This is someone who doesn’t just talk about stability—he delivers it.

After his banking career, Carney was appointed the UN’s Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance. That meant negotiating with global powers, big banks, and major corporations—all with conflicting interests. If he can hold his own in those rooms, he can handle Donald Trump.

When people say, “He’s the only person prepared to deal with Trump,” it’s not hype. It’s fact. Carney has the resume. He has the record. He has the skills.

And he knows when to fight, when to talk, and when to wait.

Old Wisdom, New Stakes

The political playbook Carney is using isn’t new. It goes back centuries.

Lao Tzu once wrote, “Nothing is softer or more flexible than water, yet nothing can resist it.” In other words, you don’t always win with force. Sometimes, you win with persistence. With adaptability. With calm.

Sun Tzu wrote: “The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.” That’s the kind of leadership Carney is showing now.

He’s not yelling. He’s not posturing. He’s managing.

And make no mistake: that kind of control is exactly what strong leadership looks like.

What the Critics Miss

So why are some people claiming Canada “got played”?

Because diplomacy looks different from defiance. It doesn’t always come with fireworks. It comes with quiet meetings, subtle signals, and incremental wins.

Carney said he’d defend our sovereignty. He is. He just knows that defense can look like dialogue.

Critics say: “He’s being nice to Trump!” But that’s how diplomacy works. You can’t protect your interests if you’re not even in the room.

And Carney is in the room. Within hours of his win, he and Trump agreed to work together “as independent, sovereign nations.” That phrase matters. It affirms that Canadian sovereignty is a given, not a concession—and certainly not a point of negotiation.

If Carney’s approach makes online trolls uncomfortable, so be it. Real leadership isn’t about pleasing the loudest voices. It’s about getting results.

Canadians Know What They Voted For

Let’s remember something: this wasn’t an accident. Canadians elected Carney because of his experience. Because he doesn’t shoot from the hip. Because he understands power. Because he’s a diplomat, not an attack dog.

We didn’t choose bluster and performance. We chose competence.

Carney’s call to Trump wasn’t a betrayal of his campaign. It was the first move in a strategy that’s already protecting Canada’s place in the world.

So when someone says, “We got played,” ask them this: Who’s really being naïve here?

Because the truth is, this isn’t a game. It’s governing. It’s diplomacy. And it’s national security.

And for now, we have a Prime Minister who knows exactly what he’s doing.