Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Monday that he plans to resign as party leader and prime minister after mounting pressure within his own Liberal Party amid mounting criticism over his handling of the economy and threats from President-elect Donald Trump. He said he would resign once the party elects a new leader.

““I intend to step down as party leader, as prime minister, after the party selects its next leader through a robust nationwide competitive process,” Trudeau told reporters. “Last night I asked the President of the Liberal Party to begin this process. “This country deserves a real choice in the next election and I realized that if I fight internally, I cannot be the best option in this election have to fight it out.”

“As you all know, I am a fighter and not one to shy away from a fight. Especially when the fight is as important as this one. But I’ve always been driven by my love for Canada, my desire to do it.” “They serve Canadians and are in the best interests of Canadians, and Canadians deserve a real choice in the next election,” Trudeau added. “And it became clear to me through the internal struggles that I cannot be the one who carries the liberal standard into the next election.”.”

Trudeau, who led the nation for nearly a decade, has been struggling for months with significant declines in his approval ratings due to increasing frustration over issues such as the rising cost of living and rising inflation.

Although there was no official path for his party to remove him from the top job, the now almost former prime minister faced either a vote of no confidence in parliament or a long fight to keep his office until the October 2025 elections – both options met with a devastating end expected from Trudeau’s term in office.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau holds a press conference on the aviation industry in Montreal, Quebec, July 15, 2021. (ANDREJ IVANOV/AFP via Getty Images)

Trump says U.S. subsidies make “no sense” for Canada and suggests Canadians want to “become the 51st nation.”

The long-serving prime minister has seen an increase in calls for his resignation. At least seven Liberal MPs and opposition party leaders called on him to resign after his Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s sudden departure. He wrote a scathing resignation letter citing criticism of his handling of certain economic policies as well as threats made by Trump.

Freeland, who was once considered Trudeau’s top ally and helped oversee the 2020 U.S.-Mexico-Canada deal during the last Trump administration, warned that the way Canada responded to Trump’s threat in November Reacting to impose a 25% tariff on Canadian imports “will define us for a generation and perhaps longer.”

“Over the past few weeks, you and I have been at odds about how Canada should best move forward,” she wrote. “Our country is facing a major challenge today.”

Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, center, Arif Virani, Canada’s Minister of Justice and Attorney General, right, and Dominic LeBlanc, Canada’s Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs, during a cabinet meeting in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on Tuesday, January 23, 2024. Prime Minister Trudeau is preparing what he calls a “Team Canada” approach to working with the United States as the country prepares for a possible return of President Donald Trump. (Allen McInnis/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Trudeau on the brink of the abyss As an ally, the finance minister abruptly resigns because Trump threatens tariffs

“The new government in the United States is pursuing a policy of aggressive economic nationalism,” she continued, calling on the prime minister to show more backbone in standing up to Trump and his “coming tariff war.”

Freeland’s comments sent shockwaves through the Canadian government, with many supporting her calls for strength in the face of the potentially difficult economic times ahead.

Trudeau, who named his close friend Dominic LeBlanc as finance minister, later held a special meeting with his caucus where, according to LeBlanc, he said he had “listened very clearly and listened carefully to their concerns, and that’s what he will do about it.” ponder.

FILE – U.S. President Donald Trump (left) and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau address a NATO roundtable meeting at The Grove Hotel and Resort in Watford, Hertfordshire, England, Dec. 4, 2019. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, File)

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Trudeau’s resignation means the Liberal Party can appoint an interim prime minister to lead the country until next fall’s election, potentially giving it a chance to regain support for the Liberal Party.

It remains unclear who is likely to take Trudeau’s seat, but LeBlanc – who, along with the former prime minister, also met with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence earlier this month – is reportedly considered the leading candidate.

Trump has not yet publicly commented on Trudeau’s resignation and his transition team has not responded to previous questions from Fox News Digital about his influence on Canadian politics.