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Canada’s Trudeau could resign amid tariff tiff with Trump

December 17, 2024 | | Print Article

After putting America’s neighbors on notice, President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to address the border crisis has led to a resignation and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau could be next.

The GOP leader hadn’t even returned to the White House yet, but his talk of tariffs had already been wielded like a machete cutting through years of overgrowth on the path to a solution. Monday, the shift from business as usual was received as a “grave challenge” by the finance minister and word spread that Trudeau had similar feelings.

In a rundown of Monday’s activities, CTV News reported, “Sources tell CTV News that the prime minister has conveyed to cabinet that he is considering prorogation (ending the session of Parliament) or resignation, and he’s potentially planning to address Parliament this afternoon.”

Later in the day, after Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland had tendered her resignation and been replaced by Dominic LeBlanc, set to continue in his role as minister of intergovernmental affairs as well, Trudeau spoke before his caucus where Freeland, who would stay on in Parliament, received a standing ovation.

While the prime minister has made no moves to step down, calls have continued to see him do so, including from New Democratic Party Leader Jagmeet Singh and Liberal MP Anthony Housefather.

“People can’t afford their groceries,” Singh said while raising concerns that Trump’s proposed 25% tariff put Canadian jobs at risk. “The prime minister cannot remain in that position. Will he resign?”

Likewise, Housefather suggested, “I believe the prime minister has passed that shelf life. We need to have a different leader with a different vision if we are to be viable in the next election.”

Freeland, who is married to New York Times reporter Graham Bowley, wrote to Trudeau in her resignation, “On Friday, you told me you no longer want me to serve as your Finance Minister and offered me another position in the cabinet.”

“Upon reflection, I have concluded that the only honest and viable path is for me to resign from the cabinet,” she said ahead of her Department of Finance producing the fall economic statement that showed the targeted $40.1 billion deficit had been considerably exceeded and came in at $61.9 billion.

“Our country today faces a grave challenge. The incoming administration in the United States is pursuing a policy of aggressive economic nationalism, including a threat of 25 percent tariffs,” Freeland wrote voicing concerns about Trump. “We need to take that threat extremely seriously. That means keeping our fiscal powder dry today, so we have the reserves we may need for a coming tariff war.”

Speaking at a fundraiser at the Canadian Museum of History in Ottawa Monday evening, Trudeau said, “It’s the absolute privilege of my life to serve as your prime minister.”

“Canada is the best country on Earth, but it’s not perfect. That’s why I wake up every single day thinking about how to make this nation work better for all Canadians,” he continued.

In attempting to address Trump’s threat to address the porous border where drugs and human trafficking prevailed or face tariffs, Trudeau saw fit to take a shot at American voters for not electing Vice President Kamala Harris instead.

“We were supposed to be on a steady, if difficult, march towards progress. And yet, just a few weeks ago, the United States voted for a second time to not elect its first woman president,” the prime minister said as, in the wake of an in-person meeting with the president-elect, he faced jokes from the GOP leader that Canada would be made into the 51st state if they couldn’t accommodate his proposal.

“I look forward to seeing the Governor again soon so that we may continue our in depth talks on Tariffs and Trade,” Trump trolled, “the results of which will be truly spectacular for all!”

While it remains to be seen how Trudeau will actually move forward, the unrest in Canadian politics was enough to set social media abuzz with the impact a second Trump administration was having before it even began.

Kevin Haggerty
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