TORONTO — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his resignation after facing an increasing loss of support both within his party and in the country.
Now Trudeau’s Liberal Party must find a new leader while dealing with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s threats to impose steep tariffs on Canadian goods and with Canada’s election just months away.
Trudeau said Monday he plans to stay on as prime minister until a new party leader is chosen.
He could not recover after Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, long one of his most powerful and loyal ministers, resigned from the Cabinet last month.
Trudeau, the 53-year-old scion of Pierre Trudeau, one of Canada’s most famous prime ministers, became deeply unpopular with voters over a range of issues, including the soaring cost of food and housing as well as surging immigration.
A new Canadian leader is unlikely to be named before Trump is inaugurated on Jan. 20.
The political upheaval comes at a difficult moment for Canada. Trump keeps calling Canada the 51st state and has threatened to impose 25% tariffs on all Canadian goods if the government does not stem what Trump calls a flow of migrants and drugs into the U.S. — even though far fewer of them cross the border from Canada than from Mexico, which Trump has also threatened with tariffs.
Trump also remains preoccupied with the U.S. trade deficit with Canada, erroneously calling it a subsidy. Canada’s ambassador to Washington, Kirsten Hillman, has said the U.S. had a $75 billion trade deficit with Canada last year. But she noted that a third of what Canada sells to the U.S. are energy exports and that there is a deficit when oil prices are high.
If Trump applies tariffs, a trade war looms. Canada has vowed to retaliate.
The Liberals need to elect a new leader before Parliament resumes March 24 because all three opposition parties say they will bring down the Liberal government in a no-confidence vote at the first opportunity, which would trigger an election. The new leader might not be prime minister for long.
A spring election would very likely favor the opposing Conservative Party.
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