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Donald Trump wasted no time in mocking Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday night after one of his most powerful and loyal ministers resigned from the Cabinet. Trudeau, who Trump called ‘Governor’, was facing the biggest test of his political career after Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland sensationally quit after clashing with Trudeau on issues including how to handle possible U.S. tariffs.
‘I have concluded that the only honest and viable path is for me to resign from the cabinet,’ she wrote, hinting at an irreparable rift with Trudeau over critical economic decisions. The stunning move raised questions about how much longer the prime minister of nearly 10 years can stay on, as his administration scrambles to deal with incoming President-elect Trump. Trump previously trolled Trudeau last week by calling Canada the 51st state and appeared to have given him the nickname of ‘Governor’ – a far less prestigious title than Prime Minister.
During Trump’s first term in his office – when he renegotiated the free trade deal with Canada and Mexico – Trump said Freeland wasn’t liked. Trudeau had dinner with Trump on November 29, and although both said it was ‘very productive’, sources said that Trump couldn’t resist taking a jab at his counterpart by quipping that Canada ‘could become a state.’ At the end of their evening, Trump gave Trudeau a copy of Mar-a-Lago’s magazine, which was filled with details about becoming a member and adverts for plastic surgery, an anonymous Canadian source revealed.
On Monday night, insiders told how Freeland’s departure stemmed from Trudeau’s attempt to demote her from the finance minister post, offering her a less influential role. But she said in her resignation letter that the only ‘honest and viable path’ was to leave the Cabinet. ‘For the past number of weeks, you and I have found ourselves at odds about the best path forward for Canada,’ Freeland said.
The tipping point came as Trump threatened to impose a punishing 25 percent tariff on Canadian imports, a move that could cripple Canada’s economy. In Freeland’s resignation letter, she framed Trump’s intended policies as an existential threat. ‘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 a 25 percent tariff,’ she warned.
‘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.’ The proposed tariffs threaten to spark a trade war with severe consequences for both economies. Last month Trudeau told reporters that Canada should take Trump’s tariff threat seriously.
‘One of the things that is really important to understand is that Donald Trump , when he makes statements like that, he plans on carrying them out,’ Trudeau said, according to the Globe and Mail . ‘There’s no question about it.’ ‘Our responsibility is to point out that, in this way, he would be actually not just be harming Canadians, who work so well with the United States, he’d actually be raising prices for American citizens as well and hurting American industry and businesses,’ Trudeau added. The president-elect touted tariffs during his 2024 campaign as a way to bend other countries to his will, though critics pointed out that the cost of import taxes are generally passed on to the consumer.
Trump won a second term, in part, because he pledged to be better on the economy than President Joe Biden and later Vice President Kamala Harris , as Americans are still feeling financially challenged by high prices in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Back in Canada, Freeland and Trudeau also disagreed about a two-month sales tax holiday and $250 checks to Canadians that were recently announced. Freeland said Canada is dealing with Trump’s threat to impose sweeping tariffs and should eschew ‘costly political gimmicks’ it can ‘ill afford.’
Trudeau swiftly named longtime ally and close friend Dominic LeBlanc, the public safety minister who recently joined him at dinner with Trump at Mar-a-Lago last month, to replace Freeland. Freeland did not go on the trip to Florida. After being sworn in, LeBlanc told reporters he and Trudeau are focused on the cost of living facing Canadians and on finding common ground with Trump on border security and economic issues. ‘It’s not been an easy day,’ Trudeau later told a room of party supporters. He called it one of his party’s ‘toughest days’ but he did not say what he planned to do.
Freeland, who chaired a Cabinet committee on U.S. relations, had been set to deliver the fall economic statement and likely announce border security measures designed to help Canada avoid Trump’s tariffs. Trump has threatened to impose a 25% tax on all products entering the U.S. from Canada and Mexico unless the neighbors stem the numbers of migrants and drugs.
Trudeau has said he plans on leading the Liberal Party into the next election , but many party members have said they don’t want him to run for a fourth term, and Freeland’s departure was a huge blow. Trudeau met with his lawmakers on Monday evening. Later, most of them brushed past reporters, declining to say what was said in the meeting. No Canadian prime minister in more than a century has won four straight terms. The federal election has to be held before next October.
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