In his first speech on Sunday after winning the race to lead Canada’s governing Liberal Party, Mark Carney took direct aim at President Donald Trump wanting to annex his country as the “51 state.”

Canada “never, ever, will be part of America in any way, shape, or form,” said Carney, the prime minister-designate, adding that people “are worried about Canada’s future, in the face of President Trump’s threats and a more divided and dangerous world.”

Carney will succeed Justin Trudeau, who announced his resignation as prime minister in January amid low approval ratings after nearly a decade in office. He’s expected to be sworn-in this week.

More: Harvard grad. Former banker: What to know about Mark Carney, Canada’s next prime minister

A former central banker, the 59-year-old Carney has served as a governor of two G7 banks — Bank of Canada and the Bank of England. He will be taking on the reins of his country at a time when it is locked in a trade war with the U.S., its neighbor and largest trade partner.

“There’s someone who’s trying to weaken our economy. Donald Trump,” Carney said on Sunday. “Donald Trump has put unjustified tariffs on what we build, on what we sell, on how we earn a living.”

“He’s attacking Canadian workers, families, and businesses. We can’t let him succeed and we won’t,” Carney added.

Trump started February by signing an executive order imposing a 25% tariff on imports from Canada but has twice postponed the start date on when it will go into effect. Trump has said the tariffs are a way to pressure Canada to stem the flow of migrants and fentanyl from across the border. Canada has responded by imposing tit-for-tat retaliatory taxes on U.S. goods.

“We didn’t ask for this fight, but Canadians are always ready when someone else drops the gloves. So, Americans should make no mistake… In trade, as in hockey, Canada will win,” Carney said on Sunday.

In recent months, Trump has repeatedly suggested that he wants the U.S. to absorb Canada and referred to it’s outgoing prime minister as “Governor Justin Trudeau of the Great State of Canada.”

“What I’d like to see; Canada become our 51st state. We give them protection, military protection we don’t need them, them to build our cars,” Trump said on Feb. 3, from the Oval Office. “If people wanted to play the game right, it would be 100% certain that they’d become a state. But a lot of people don’t like to play the game.”

More: Canadian backlash erupts over Trump’s tariffs. Trade war hits wine, spirits. What’s next?

Carney is a political outsider who has never held political office. But his high-profile business career has won recognition and accolades, including for his handling of the financial crisis at the Bank of Canada in 2008.

The Bank of England hired Carney in 2013, making him the first non-British governor in the central bank’s three-century history, and the first person to ever head two G7 central banks, according to Reuters.

Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is a White House Correspondent for USA TODAY. You can follow her on X @SwapnaVenugopal