Canada’s Finance Minister, Chrystia Freeland, resigned on Monday following a clash with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over issues including how to handle potential U.S. tariffs, delivering another blow to an already unpopular government.
In a scathing resignation letter, Freeland dismissed Trudeau’s push for increased spending as a political deception that could harm Ottawa’s ability to deal with the 25% import tariffs that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has said he will impose.
Freeland stated that she was resigning after a meeting last Friday with Trudeau, during which he asked her to take on a smaller role after weeks of debate between them over spending.
Her resignation came just hours before she was set to present the fall economic update in parliament, a document widely expected to show that the minority Liberal government had created a budget deficit much larger than initially forecasted. Officials said the document would be revealed on Monday as scheduled.
Freeland’s resignation, at the age of 56, who also served as Deputy Prime Minister, leaves Trudeau without a key ally as his government is already in trouble, Reuters reported.
