As President Donald Trump doubles down on his escalating trade war against some of the country’s biggest economic partners, he is declining to rule out a recession as economic uncertainty grows. Meanwhile,

Canada’s next prime minister Mark Carney has helped run two economies in crisis before and now will try to steer Canada through a looming trade war.

As U.S. and Ukrainian officials prepare to meet in Saudi Arabia this week, President Donald Trump has privately made clear to aides that a signed minerals deal between Washington and Kyiv won’t be enough to restart aid and intelligence sharing with the war-torn country, according an administration official and another U.S. official.

National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett said in an interview with ABC News' "This Week" that the tariffs are not meant to start a trade war. "What happened was that we launched a drug war, not a trade war, and it was part of the negotiation to get Canada and Mexico to stop shipping fentanyl across our borders," Hassett said.

Long-threatened tariffs from U.S. President Donald Trump have plunged the country into a trade war abroad — all while on-again, off-again new levies continue to escalate uncertainty.

Polls show Carney is the preferred leader to negotiate with Trump, who has repeatedly threatened to annex Canada and make it the 51st state and to impose devastating tariffs.

The leaders of both Canada and Mexico got on the phone with President Donald Trump this past week to seek solutions after he slapped tariffs on their countries, but China’s president appears unlikely

Earlier this week, the Trump administration imposed across-the-board 25% tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico.