Justin Trudeau Announces Decision to Step Down as Canadian Prime Minister

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday he would step down in the coming months, giving in to an angry electorate at a time of uncertain economic prospects and political infighting.

The announcement, made amidst a gridlocked Parliament, leaves Canada in political flux just as the incoming Trump administration has vowed to impose punishing tariffs on Canadian imports.

"It's time for a reset," Mr. Trudeau said at his residence, in Ottawa, the capital, on a bitterly cold morning. Mr. Trudeau said he was proroguing Parliament until March 24, and that he would remain the leader of the Liberal Party and prime minister until he was succeeded through a nationwide party vote.

"I truly feel that removing the contention around my own continued leadership is an opportunity to bring the temperature down," he said.

Mr. Trudeau, 53, who rose to power nearly a decade ago and quickly became seen as a progressive icon, is the latest leader in the West to be swept aside by a mood of anti-incumbency, a backlash against immigration and anger at the lingering effects of a spike in inflation during the coronavirus pandemic. Although inflation in Canada has receded to below 2 percent, unemployment remains high, at above 6 percent.

General elections must take place by October, a schedule that Mr. Trudeau mentioned on Monday.

"It's become obvious to me with the internal battles that I cannot be the one to carry the Liberal standard into the next election," he said.

Mr. Trudeau has faced weeks of mounting pressure from inside his party's ranks.

In December, Mr. Trudeau's deputy prime minister and finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, unexpectedly resigned, delivering a sharp rebuke of his leadership and stewardship of the country. Ms. Freeland, who had been Mr. Trudeau's closest ally in the government, charged him with allowing himself to be involved in "costly political gimmicks" and being woefully unprepared to meet the challenge President-elect Donald J. Trump posed to the world.

Her resignation triggered an increasing chorus of voices from the Liberal parliamentarians asking him to step down for the sake of the party, and let someone else lead the party in general elections.

Pressure from a resurgent Conservative Party has also weighed on Mr. Trudeau, who faced a commanding double-digit lead in recent surveys by that party over his Liberal Party. The Conservative leader, Pierre Poilievre, posted a video on social media on Monday touting an alternate vision of governing: "ax the tax," referring to Mr. Trudeau's unpopular carbon tax, "build the homes," "fix the budget" and "stop the crime."

The upheaval comes as Canada is debating how best to deal with Mr. Trump's pledge to impose tariffs that would upend a trade agreement among Canada, the United States and Mexico. (Mr. Trump has also threatened tariffs on Mexico and says he wants both countries to address the flow of drugs and undocumented migrants into the United States.)

It would make the Canadian economy potentially ruinous given its high export dependency, particularly for oil and automobile exports. America and Canada are, respectively, the largest trading partner of each.

Mr. Trudeau visited Mr. Trump at Mar-a-Lago, his private club and residence in Florida, in late November, and his government had been in talks to address the president-elect's concerns about border security in hopes that he would reconsider his tariff threat.

The talks do not seem to have borne fruit. Early December saw Mr. Trump mocking Mr. Trudeau on social media, referring to the Canadian prime minister as "Governor Justin Trudeau of the Great State of Canada."

On Monday Mr. Trump responded to Mr. Trudeau's resignation by repeating the idea again that Canada should become America's "51st state," saying on social media that if Canada merged with the U.S., taxes would decrease and there would be no tariffs.

Among the possible successors to Mr. Trudeau are Ms. Freeland, the former deputy prime minister and finance minister; Dominic LeBlanc, who became finance minister when Ms. Freeland resigned; Mélanie Joly, Canada's top diplomat since 2021; and Mark Carney, the former governor of the Bank of Canada, who also led the Bank of England.

On Monday, Mr. Trudeau told reporters that the parliament, whose government lacks a majority in parliament, had been "totally seized by obstruction, and filibustering and a total lack of productivity".

In comments he made in French, he painted an even starker picture of a Parliament that "no longer functions." The suspension of Parliament, a process known as prorogation, will give his party time to pick a new leader, which Mr. Trudeau said would be through a "robust, nationwide, competitive process." A new and perhaps more popular leader could put the Liberals on firmer footing in the upcoming national election.

It erases all the bills before parliament but doesn't touch the regular functioning of the government.

Mr. Trudeau took a decade building a political brand around himself as a feminist, an environmentalist, and a refugee and Indigenous people's advocate, seeking to carry on the same message of change and hope as Barack Obama. But analysts say Mr. Trudeau's brand, which seems antithetical to Mr. Trump's, is no longer working for him. "He rode a wave in on his way in, and when you ride a wave, it can lift you up," said Darrell Bricker, a seasoned pollster and chief executive of Ipsos Public Affairs. "But on the other side if you don't get off, it will ground you.

An Ipsos poll published in late December found that the Liberals trailed the Conservatives by 25 percentage points.

Although the next election must be held by October, a vote could be called or forced earlier.

The Liberal government under a new prime minister could be short-lived. And shortly after the new session begins, the Liberal government is likely to face a vote of confidence. It would likely lose such a vote, as it commands only a minority of the seats in Parliament and it has lost the support of all other parties. That would prompt a federal election.

The prime minister also has the power to dissolve Parliament at any time, which would also prompt an election.