Chrystia Freeland is returning to her writing roots with a new book named after a quip she made about the United States on an American talk show.
“Unreliable Boyfriend: An Insider’s View of Dealing with a Chaotic Superpower, Plutocrats, and Other Complicated People” will be published in October.
Its title is a reference to a comment she made on “Real Time With Bill Maher” in February, saying that the U.S. is “not a very reliable boyfriend right now.”
Publisher Simon & Schuster Canada says the book is part political memoir, part international analysis about the evolving role of the United States.
Jonathan Karp, who edited the book, says Freeland draws on skills honed during her journalism career to offer readers an up-close view of power.
Freeland was a member of cabinet in both Justin Trudeau’s and Mark Carney’s governments from 2015 to 2025, serving as minister of international trade, foreign affairs, finance and internal trade over the years.
Freeland was a key figure in negotiating the CUSMA trade pact, which is up for review next month.
She made a negative impression on U.S. President Donald Trump, who in 2018 said, “we don’t like their representative very much” a few days before they ultimately signed the deal.
Freeland was Trudeau’s deputy prime minister for years before resigning from cabinet in a dramatic split from the prime minister in December 2024, just hours before she was due to deliver the fall economic statement.
She rejoined cabinet under Prime Minister Mark Carney, but resigned from the role late last year and stepped down from Parliament in January, taking up a role as an economic development adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and accepting a job as CEO of the Rhodes Trust.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 10, 2026.
Nicole Thompson, The Canadian Press
