Donald Trump’s tariff threats have created deep fissures within Canada’s government—and may be pushing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to the brink of stepping down.
Longtime Trudeau ally and finance minister Chrystia Freeland resigned suddenly and publicly from her post this week, detailing the reasoning behind her exit in an open letter on X. The senior official said she could no longer stand by as a member of Trudeau’s cabinet because she disagreed with his tepid response to Trump’s unrelenting acts of pressure and intimidation.
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Since intimating that the U.S. would impose 25-percent duties on Canada-made products several weeks ago, Trump has also taken to referring to Trudeau as “Governor of the Great State of Canada,” belying his disdain for the prime minister and implying that the nation’s second-largest trading partner is nothing but U.S.-adjacent territory.
“Our country today faces a grave challenge. The incoming administration in the United States is pursuing a policy of aggressive economic nationalism,” Freeland wrote, describing the impact of the potential duty hikes. “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.”
“That means pushing back against ‘America First’ economic nationalism with a determined effort to fight for capital and investment and the jobs they bring. That means working in good faith and humility with the Premiers of the provinces and territories of our great and diverse country, and building a true Team Canada response,” she added.
Elected for the first time in 2015 and winning two elections since then, Trudeau’s favorability ratings have slipped in recent years under the weight of heightened inflation, cost of living pressures and immigration challenges. Canada’s ruling Liberal Party is close to losing its tenuous grip on the country’s government under Trudeau’s leadership, polls have shown.
Now, as many as 45 Members of Parliament have signed a letter calling for Trudeau to resign, according to the Toronto Star. Conservative Party leader Poilievre told reporters Monday that “Justin Trudeau has lost control of everything.”
“We cannot accept this kind of chaos, division [and] weakness while we’re staring down the barrel of a 25-percent tariff by our biggest trading partner and closest ally,” Poilievre added.
Members of three parties have called upon Trudeau to step down, and some are proposing that a new election be held in early 2025.
Conservative Premier Doug Ford has been an outspoken critic of both Trudeau and Trump, hitting back forcefully at the incoming American president’s tariff bluster with threats to cut off the sale of critical energy to states in the Northeastern U.S.
“I want to sell more electricity, more power to our U.S. friends and closest allies in the world. But that’s a tool that we have in our toolbox,” Ford said on CNN’s OutFront segment with Erin Burnett on Tuesday. “We ship down 4.3 million barrels [of oil] every single day. If there was a tariff on that, that would increase gas by $1 a gallon, that wouldn’t go over very well.”
Meanwhile, Trudeau appears to be trying to head off a tariff debacle with an appeasement strategy; last week, the prime minister met with leaders from across Canada to game out a plan that would channel up to $1 billion into new border security measures to stop both migrants and illicit goods like drugs and precursor chemicals from crossing into the U.S.
