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WASHINGTON 鈥� A plan beats no plan, as Mark Carney likes to say. But in Donald Trump鈥檚 White House, plans go out the window.

It鈥檚 going to be a perilous few hours for the newly elected prime minister as he navigates the first handshake, the postures, the unscripted remarks in front of a phalanx of cameras for a series high-stakes meetings in Washington. When his plane landed here Monday, there was a red carpet and a standard greeting by an acting U.S. protocol official and Canada鈥檚 ambassador in Washington. Nothing fancy. Nothing that attested to a special relationship.

As Carney was flying to Joint Base Andrews outside the capital, Trump was already airily dissing their Tuesday t锚te-脿-t锚te. 鈥淚鈥檓 not sure what he wants to see me about, but I guess he wants to make a deal,鈥� he said. 鈥淓verybody does.鈥�

Read the full dispatch from Ottawa Bureau Chief Tonda MacCharles

Mark Carney is new to politics, but in a matter of months, he is learning that each fight gets tougher.

He handily won the Liberal leadership in March. His election victory a week ago was tighter. This week, he鈥檚 up against Donald Trump, and the newly elected prime minister has to be aware that the stakes in this contest are higher and more daunting than the first two.

And unlike those first two battles, a win won鈥檛 come in a day. A swift reversal in all the tariffs would be a miracle, so the best outcome from Tuesday鈥檚 meetings in Washington, most Canada-U.S. watchers acknowledge, is to establish a working relationship with the mercurial Trump.

Read the full column here

When Prime Minister Mark Carney travels to Washington on Tuesday to meet President Donald Trump, it will be more than a diplomatic courtesy call. It will be a pivotal test of Canada鈥檚 ability to navigate the fault lines of a shifting world order 鈥� and to assert its sovereign leadership in North America.

Carney鈥檚 trip comes just weeks before Canada hosts the G7 Summit at Kananaskis 鈥� a once-in-seven-years opportunity to shape the agenda of the world鈥檚 leading democracies. Rarely has that convening carried higher stakes. With Trump鈥檚 return to the Oval Office, America鈥檚 relationship with its G7 partners is strained anew by protectionism, tariffs, and a transactional approach to alliances. Meanwhile, G6 members 鈥� Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan 鈥� are struggling to defend the principles of open markets and collective security that have underpinned prosperity for generations.

Read the full column from contributor Alan Kessel聽