Ottawa:

Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland unexpectedly resigned Monday after disagreeing with Justin Trudeau over U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s tariff threats.

Freeland also resigned as finance minister, and her resignation marked the first open dissent against Prime Minister Trudeau within his cabinet and could threaten his hold on power.

Trudeau, leader of the Liberal Party, is polling 20 points behind his main rival, Conservative Pierre Poilievre, who has tried three times since September to topple the government and force an early election.

“Our country faces a great challenge today,” Freeland said in her resignation letter, citing Trump’s planned 25 percent tariffs on Canadian imports.

“Over the last few weeks, you and I have disagreed about the best way for Canada to move forward.”

The former journalist was first elected to Parliament in 2013 and joined Trudeau’s cabinet two years later when the Liberals came to power. He held key positions including trade and foreign minister and led free trade negotiations with the EU and the United States.

Most recently, she was tasked with leading Canada’s response to actions by the new Trump administration.

Canada’s most important trading partner is the United States, with 75 percent of its exports going to its southern neighbor each year.

In her resignation letter, Freeland said Trudeau wanted to move her to another job, to which she replied: “I have come to the conclusion that the only honest and viable path for me is to resign from Cabinet.”

As Treasury Secretary, she said Trump’s threats of tariffs had to be taken “extremely seriously.”

She warned this could lead to a “tariff war” with the United States and said Ottawa needs to keep its “fiscal powder dry.”

“That means foregoing costly political games that we can ill afford,” she said, an apparent rebuke of the recent tax break that critics called costly and aimed at bolstering the declining political fortunes of the ruling Liberals.

– Trouble for Trudeau –

Lori Turnbull, a professor at Dalhousie University, called Freeland’s exit “a total disaster.”

“It really shows that there is a crisis of trust in Trudeau,” she said. “And makes it much harder for Trudeau to continue as prime minister.”

So far, the cabinet has rallied around Trudeau as he faced a range of dissent from backbenchers, noted Genevieve Tellier, a professor at the University of Ottawa.

Freeland’s opposition to his economic policies represents “a big problem,” she said, and shows that his team is not as united behind him as some thought.

Freeland’s departure comes on the same day she was due to provide an update on the country’s finances following reports that the government would exceed Freeland’s deficit forecasts in the spring.

“This government is in shambles,” Poilievre’s deputy leader Andrew Scheer responded to Freeland’s message, saying: “Even she has lost trust in Trudeau.”

Housing Minister Sean Fraser, who also announced his retirement from politics on Monday, described Freeland as “professional and supportive”.

One of her closest friends and cabinet allies, Anita Anand, told reporters: “This news hit me really hard.”

Freeland said she will run in the next election, expected to take place in 2025.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)