Beleaguered, Canada's outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Thursday that he will not seek a re-election from Montreal in the upcoming general elections in Canada, sparking speculation that he might be quitting politics. His decision to not run in the coming general election comes days after he announced his decision to step down.
"In terms of my own decisions, I will not be running in the upcoming election,” Justin Trudeau was quoted as saying.
Justin Trudeau's popularity among his own party members and his countrymen had been waning due to his handling of immigration policies and the economy. Battered by the eroding trust of his party members, Justin Trudeau announced that he intends to step down in March when a new leader is elected by his party.
On Thursday, Justin Trudeau announced that he doesn't wish to contest the upcoming general elections. Donald Trump's tariff threat was also one of the reasons why Justin Trudeau faced pressure to resign.
Last month, Donald Trump threatened to impose 25 per cent tariffs on all Canadian goods if Ottawa did not stem the flow of migrants and fentanyl – a synthetic opioid drug – from entering the US border.
To discuss the tariff and how it would destroy the Canadian economy, Justin Trudeau flew to Mar-a-Lago for a dinner with Donald Trump where the US President-elect apparently told Justin Trudeau to make Canada the “51st state of America”.
Meanwhile, to respond to Donald Trump's tariff threat, Canada has drawn up an initial list of C$150 billion ($105 billion) of US-manufactured items that it would hit with tariffs if the US President-elect goes ahead with the threats. The products on that initial list weren’t disclosed.
When Trump placed tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum in 2018, Canada responded with levies on a variety of US-manufactured items, such as whiskey and washing machines — a pressure tactic that aimed to affect factories in areas where Republican politicians had influence. Those tariffs were much smaller in scope, affecting about C$16.6 billion of US exports at the time.
(With agency inputs)
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